On the evening of July 16, 2026, an “Investment Progress Announcement” that was originally only meant to appear on the exchange’s website unexpectedly placed Kai-run Co., Ltd. at the center of domestic AI capital narratives. The announcement itself did not specifically write out numbers, but provided enough trading information that the market inferred a sensitive result that had never appeared in public channels before: DeepSeek's latest round of financing valuation was approximately 351 billion yuan, suggesting that the valuation of this leading artificial intelligence company had substantially exceeded 350 billion yuan. More dramatically, this key valuation was not actively disclosed by the company or investors, but was “accidentally leaked” by a traditional consumer company while fulfilling its information disclosure obligations. After the announcement was posted online, both the primary and secondary markets quickly focused on DeepSeek's capital path, upstream LPs began to reassess the pricing center of AI assets, and downstream investors questioned: under the premise that the valuation has already reached 350 billion yuan, how will the next round of financing be priced, will it choose to approach the Sci-Tech Innovation Board within the year, or continue to raise stakes in the private market? This announcement unexpectedly tore apart the fog surrounding the valuations of leading AI companies, pushing DeepSeek’s capital path and IPO prospects into the spotlight.
The Announcement Leaked the Valuation of an AI Unicorn
In form, the announcement posted by Kai-run Co., Ltd. on the evening of July 16 was merely an ordinary investment progress announcement: as a publicly listed A-share company, fulfilling the information disclosure obligation for external investments according to regulatory requirements is a very basic process. However, this “routine task” was the first time it exposed the valuation of DeepSeek, a leading domestic AI company, to the spotlight. The announcement did not explicitly state “how much is DeepSeek valued at,” but after disclosing relevant transaction data, professional institutions in both the primary and secondary markets quickly inferred and provided an estimated valuation range of about 351 billion yuan after this round of financing. As of now, the publicly available, verifiable sources surrounding DeepSeek’s valuation almost all point to this announcement and the market estimations it sparked, while other figures related to its valuation remain mostly at the level of rumors.
It is precisely for this reason that this “unexpected leak” is particularly rare in the primary market. Typically, the price tags for high-valuation projects are kept strictly confidential within investment agreements, due diligence material, and roadshows, and rarely appear in publicly listed company announcements in such direct, computable forms due to confidentiality clauses. As a leading A-share entity, Kai-run Co., Ltd., while conducting routine investment disclosures to fulfill its own compliance obligations, inadvertently took on the role of the entire AI sector’s valuation “accountant”: the 351 billion yuan valuation of DeepSeek was not officially announced by the company, but was embedded in a calculation formula following the announcement of a traditional listed company. This dislocation of information pathways has become an important sample for observing how the boundaries between future primary and public markets may be redrawn.
The Capital Race Behind the 350 Billion Valuation
In this capital theater unexpectedly ignited by an announcement, DeepSeek has been pushed into the spotlight, not just because it has an inferred valuation of 351 billion yuan, but because it is currently one of the most coveted types of targets in the primary market—one with a clear technology narrative, a defined industry position, and a public profile that has already penetrated various circles. In the context of AI being viewed as the infrastructure of the future, capital needs a “leading symbol” to place concentrated bets on, and DeepSeek happens to meet this demand: it can embody imagination about large models, computing power, and application prospects, while also providing a relatively certain story protagonist for large capital. The fact that its valuation has long remained undisclosed only heightened its mystique; when the announcement from Kai-run Co., Ltd. first provided a computable price range, the market quickly regarded this 351 billion yuan as the “reference answer” for leading AI companies and the benchmark line for capital competition in the current track.
The primary market valuation exceeding 350 billion yuan immediately formed an anchoring effect within the domestic AI community. Projects currently discussing financing would passively align their pricing with this number: those that also discuss large models would inevitably need to explain why they can approach or even match this level; while those focused on applications and landing would worry about being interpreted as lacking technological merit if their valuations were excessively discounted. For institutions, the exposure of DeepSeek altered the internal valuation template—the originally established pricing ceiling for AI companies had to be pushed upwards, elevating the entire range due to the presence of a leading example. More subtly, once the head valuation was pushed to this height, subsequent funds entering DeepSeek or similar projects naturally face pressure not to fall below the previous round, while other AI companies will compete in the game for “next-tier” positions to prove their relevance in the main track. Therefore, 351 billion yuan becomes not merely a static figure but a measuring stick that is extending forward; whether it will become the boundary of rational pricing or the starting point of capital frenzy will determine the valuation order and capital narrative within the domestic AI sector for the coming years.
Financing Relay Begins: DeepSeek Continues to Raise Prices
According to insiders close to DeepSeek, after the first round of financing just wrapped up in the primary market, the company has already initiated preparations and discussions for the second round of financing, with the funding cadence nearly being “the previous round just closed, and the next round is starting immediately.” After the announcement from Kai-run Co., Ltd. accidentally exposed a valuation of approximately 351 billion yuan, the capital story did not stop at this measuring stick, but was instead extended into a path of “going to raise it another round”—for a leading AI company, concentrated financing is both a tool for amplifying valuation and a practical need to fill the cash flow required for business expansion. More investment in computing power, larger model iterations, and broader product rollouts all mean ongoing cash burning, and continuous cash burning is packaged into a “high growth” narrative to persuade new capital to accept higher pricing.
What truly makes the market anxious yet excited is that this round of “relay financing” remains stuck in hearsay and information from a single channel. The brief specifically notes that the scale, timetable, and expected valuation for the second round of financing have not yet been publicly disclosed. Currently, all imaginings about the “new price tag” can only extrapolate from the starting point of 351 billion yuan: some assume that new funds will be forced to accept higher valuations to maintain a leading position, while others worry that rapidly increasing prices will squeeze future investors’ profit margins, increasing the risk premium in subsequent rounds and in case of project exit. More complicating is that currently, news about the second round of financing comes only from the statements of people close to the company, with no regulatory documents or official announcement backing them; investors can only set their own price ranges for DeepSeek's next steps based on “incomplete information.” This kind of imagination and risk pricing surrounding undisclosed financing conditions has already become an important variable in the capital game within the domestic AI sector in the coming months.
The Sci-Tech Innovation Board Mystery and a New Valuation Coordinate for AI
What truly makes the market restless is not the number 351 billion yuan itself, but the vague imagination of the Sci-Tech Innovation Board behind it. As of now, there is still no publicly confirmed information on whether DeepSeek will rush for an IPO on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board by the end of the year; relevant statements have only come from a single channel's indirect disclosures, lacking direct responses from the company or corroboration from regulatory authorities. In a state of “not knowing whether it will go public or when,” the Sci-Tech Innovation Board has been placed in an ambiguous position: it is both a potential next act in the story and remains in the realm of the “if” hypothesis, becoming a narrative suspense that the market repeatedly ponders.
The Sci-Tech Innovation Board itself is a capital stage tailor-made for technology innovation enterprises and has already gathered a batch of high-growth tech companies, forming a relatively independent valuation system. If DeepSeek ultimately chooses to land in this sector, the primary market-inferred valuation of over 350 billion yuan will undoubtedly be regarded as a key reference coordinate by the secondary market: on the one hand, the existing valuation ranges of AI targets on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board will be compared with this leading enterprise to reverse-engineer “who is expensive and who is cheap”; on the other hand, new project financing and pricing will also find it hard to bypass this invisible valuation “ruler,” from prospectus to roadshow pricing, all will revolve around this number for interest competition.
For regulatory authorities, the impact of high-valuation AI companies on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board tests how to find a balance between supporting technology innovation and preventing valuation bubbles. Once a scale like 351 billion yuan enters the public issuance and trading phase, the completeness of information disclosure, the sustainability of profit models, and whether the issuance price matches the risks will all become focal points for scrutiny; regulators may be inclined to use the rhythm of checks and the density of inquiries to cool down valuation frenzy. On the market side, institutional investors and small to medium funds would be pulled between “enjoying the growth premium of leading AI” and “being wary of excessively high pricing”: some hope the Sci-Tech Innovation Board can accommodate this giant, providing an anchor for their holdings; while others worry that if the issuing price closely approaches the primary market figure, subsequent stock performance will be hard to match expectations. This ongoing multi-party game surrounding the potential listing expectations on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board will determine whether DeepSeek's valuation can transform from a hidden primary market figure to an open coordinate of China's AI sector.
From Unexpected Leak to Valuation Anchor
Since the ordinary investment progress announcement on the evening of July 16, DeepSeek's valuation has been clearly brought to the spotlight for the first time: the estimated valuation of approximately 351 billion yuan derived from the announcement data is not just a cold number, but breaks the long-standing information barrier of leading AI companies that “only their names are heard, but not their prices,” allowing the secretive pricing part of the primary market to enter the public eye. The increase in information transparency has directly reshaped market expectations—institutions are beginning to calibrate their models around the new coordinate axis of “over 350 billion yuan” as they reassess their holdings and project reserves, and DeepSeek has consequently transformed from merely a company into a reference point for pricing within the domestic AI sector. The symbolic significance of this valuation anchor lies in its forcing capital to rethink: in an industry where technological evolution has yet to solidify, how to set a more binding price framework for leading companies. According to insiders close to DeepSeek, the second round of financing has already begun, and whether they will rush for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board by the end of the year remains uncertain; the rhythm and outcomes of both capital paths are filled with uncertainty, and they will continue to relay new expectations between the primary and secondary markets, determining whether this company’s valuation center is a temporary peak of sentiment or a long-term reference anchor for Chinese AI enterprises.
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