DeepSeek reportedly plans to hire GL Ventures partner Yan Wentao as its first financial officer Reuters Two people familiar with the matter were quoted as saying. One of China’s largest artificial intelligence labs is preparing to go public, according to unofficial sources.
Photo credit: Solen Feyissa / unsplash.com
Last week it was reported that DeepSeek had hired Chinese brokerage CITIC Securities to prepare for a listing on Shanghai’s technology platform, the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The chief financial officer often plays a key role in dealing with investors, regulators, capital allocation and the disclosure process – all of which are required when going public. The appointment of Mr. Yan, a dealmaker with expertise, will be an important step in DeepSeek’s transformation from a founder’s hedge fund-funded research lab to a company with a traditional corporate structure.
GL Ventures is the venture capital arm of the investment company Hillhouse Investment, focusing on the technology, biotechnology and consumer discretionary fields; Hillhouse itself is not an investor in DeepSeek. In June, the laboratory attracted about US$7.4 billion in investment and was valued at more than US$50 billion; the next round of financing may be worth about US$74 billion. The company attracted international attention early last year when it released a series of high-quality but cheap artificial intelligence models, raising investor doubts about the U.S. lab’s claims about the high cost of creating advanced artificial intelligence systems.
DeepSeek is controlled by its founder Liang Wenfeng. From its establishment in 2023 to the beginning of this year, Liang Wenfeng provided financing for the new startup through his hedge fund High-Flyer, until the company began to attract external investment at the beginning of this year.
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