AI Company Profile
DeepSeek AI Company Profile
A complete profile of DeepSeek — leadership, funding history, products, focus areas, and how they compete in the broader AI market. Last updated for 2026.
Chinese AI lab that shocked the industry with R1's reasoning capabilities. Known for extreme efficiency and open-source contributions.
2023
Hangzhou, China
~300
$500M (estimated)
Leadership
Liang Wenfeng
CEO
Key Products
Focus Areas
Funding History
Models by DeepSeek
About DeepSeek
DeepSeek was founded in 2023 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China. The company is led by Liang Wenfeng and has scaled to approximately 300 employees, with +150% YoY year-over-year headcount growth.
DeepSeek has raised $500M (estimated) in total funding. The company's strategic focus areas are Efficient training, Reasoning, Open-source, Code generation, MoE architecture, and its public product portfolio includes DeepSeek V3, DeepSeek R1, DeepSeek Coder.
In the broader AI landscape, DeepSeek competes with the other major model labs and AI platform companies — including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, and DeepSeek — across a stack that ranges from foundation models to developer platforms to enterprise AI deployments. The defining differentiators for DeepSeek are its emphasis on Efficient training, Reasoning, Open-source.
Funding history
| Date | Stage | Amount | Valuation | Lead investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-11-01 | Series A | $500M (estimated) | — | High-Flyer Capital (parent) |
Products and focus
Products
- DeepSeek V3
- DeepSeek R1
- DeepSeek Coder
Focus areas
- Efficient training
- Reasoning
- Open-source
- Code generation
- MoE architecture
Using DeepSeek models with Swfte
All DeepSeek models are accessible through Swfte Connect, our unified LLM gateway. Route requests across providers, optimise costs, and maintain a single API integration regardless of which model — or which combination of models — you settle on. For workloads that warrant a deeper integration, the Swfte workflow builder composes DeepSeek models into multi-step orchestrations with built-in eval, governance, and audit-trail support.
Frequently asked questions
What is DeepSeek?
Chinese AI lab that shocked the industry with R1's reasoning capabilities. Known for extreme efficiency and open-source contributions.
When was DeepSeek founded and where is it based?
DeepSeek was founded in 2023 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China. The CEO is Liang Wenfeng.
How much funding has DeepSeek raised and what is the valuation?
DeepSeek has raised $500M (estimated) in total funding.
What does DeepSeek build?
Key products include DeepSeek V3, DeepSeek R1, DeepSeek Coder. The company focuses on Efficient training, Reasoning, Open-source, Code generation, MoE architecture.
How does DeepSeek compare to competitors?
DeepSeek competes in the broader AI model and AI infrastructure market alongside OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, and DeepSeek. The differentiating focus areas for DeepSeek are Efficient training, Reasoning, Open-source.