AI money keeps flowing as Deepseek plans record raise and Core Automation quadruples valuation in weeks

Money keeps pouring into AI startups at a staggering pace. According to The Information, Chinese AI lab Deepseek is planning a funding round of up to 50 billion yuan ($7.35 billion), the largest ever for a Chinese AI company. Founder Liang Wenfeng plans to personally contribute up to 40 percent of the round, and the deal could push Deepseek's valuation past $51.5 billion.

The company is also ramping up its commercialization efforts, with plans to release DeepSeek V4.1 in June featuring more enterprise tools, improved MCP support, and image and audio processing. Investors had previously raised concerns about the company's lack of revenue and the loss of key researchers to Xiaomi and ByteDance, according to The Information.

Meanwhile, Core Automation—a startup founded by former OpenAI researcher Jerry Tworek just six weeks ago—is reportedly already targeting a valuation of around $4 billion. The company had raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation only weeks earlier, with Nvidia among its backers. Core Automation is building AI models that can keep learning after training.