DeepSeek is hiring hard as a huge new funding round nears, sources say
People close to DeepSeek say it is growing its team fast as investors weigh a new round. Its founder, Liang Wenfeng, is said to live simply in a rented Beijing home.
The short version
- Sources say DeepSeek is expanding fast and told investors that a bigger team is part of its growth plan
- Offices are mainly in Beijing and Hangzhou
- Liang Wenfeng has long rented a home in Beijing, furnished simply
- Media report a new funding round; amount and investors are not yet confirmed
- In June the company said it would at least double every department
Why it matters
A lab once known for a small group is building a large organization. If you build on DeepSeek models, expect more products and faster change, which can also mean shifts in pricing and limits. Keeping a backup provider is a sensible habit.
What the sources say
As Phoenix New Media Tech (ifeng Tech) reported, several people with knowledge of DeepSeek say the company has been expanding very quickly. One person close to the company said it is presenting investors with a new growth route, and that a major team expansion is part of it.
The same person said DeepSeek's offices are mainly in Beijing and Hangzhou. Founder Liang Wenfeng has long rented a home in Beijing, and it has always been furnished plainly. These are unnamed sources, and the company has not confirmed the details in the report.
Hiring signals already public
The expansion follows public signs. In late June, DeepSeek posted a notice saying it would at least double every department. It opened a few dozen roles across research, computing infrastructure, product work, frontier algorithm research and general functions, including data center jobs in Wulanchabu.
In September, Cui Tianyi, who leads the DeepSeek Harness team, posted a large batch of openings on social media. He called the hiring need unprecedented.
The money behind it
Several media outlets have reported that DeepSeek is close to finishing a new funding round. According to those reports, the planned size was raised twice from its first target, and it follows a first round in June.
The report stresses that the exact amount and the list of investors still await disclosure by the company. Treat the figures as unconfirmed.
Products and usage
On the product side, DeepSeek has said it will open-source DeepInfer, its internal inference framework (the software that runs a trained model to produce answers). It works with both Nvidia and Huawei Ascend computing platforms.
Data from OpenRouter, a platform that routes requests to many models, shows DeepSeek models first in its weekly usage ranking for three weeks in a row. That is one platform's measure, not a view of the whole market.
What to watch
- Will DeepSeek confirm the size of the new round and name its investors?
- Will a bigger team lead to more products or a faster release pace?
Try it
If a workflow of yours depends on one AI model vendor, write down which backup model you would switch to and test it on a few real tasks this week.
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Listen to the daily showsFirst reported by Phoenix New Media Tech (ifeng Tech) · Read the original. Written by the SI Agent News Desk from the reporting above.Written with AI from the source above. Every number is checked against the source. Spot a mistake? Corrections.