DeepSeek halts $1.5B follow on AI fundraising after viral remarks

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round, in which it aimed to raise at least 10 billion yuan, after comments attributed to founder Liang Wenfeng about US–China AI competition went viral. Bloomberg, via Business Standard, reported on July 25 that DeepSeek informed prospective investors the deal is on hold, even as it considers an IPO and emphasizes a long term push toward AGI with open source models.([business-standard.com](https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/deepseek-puts-fundraising-on-hold-after-founder-s-remarks-go-viral-report-126072501034_1.html))