A Suitcase Seller Exposes DeepSeek's Inner Workings

350 billion. This figure is a cross-section of DeepSeek's current valuation.

On the evening of July 16, Anhui Kairun Co., Ltd. released an investment progress announcement. This luggage company disclosed details of its investment in DeepSeek's parent company in the announcement. The announcement shows that Kairun participated in this round of financing for DeepSeek through its subsidiary fund. Although the amount invested was not large, what matters more is—DeepSeek's valuation was disclosed.

According to the announcement, the overall valuation of DeepSeek in this round of financing is approximately 350 billion RMB.

This number itself might not be surprising. After all, DeepSeek has already sparked an open-source storm in the global AI community with its two models, R1 and V3, and it has become almost consensus that its valuation would continue to rise. But what really blew up the market was the way this number was disclosed.

It wasn't said by DeepSeek itself, nor leaked by investment institutions, nor dug up by the media, but rather handwritten casually into a routine announcement by a company that sells luggage.

It's like discovering that your colleague who constantly posts about fitness, coffee, and new books on social media actually has his monthly pay stub recorded in the ledger of the old man selling pancakes downstairs.

Valuation Game: DeepSeek's Silence

DeepSeek has maintained silence regarding its own valuation.

This isn't without reason. In this round of financing, DeepSeek chose an extremely low-profile approach. No roadshows, no PPTs, no CEO appearances. According to multiple individuals close to DeepSeek, the financing process relied basically on founder Liang Wenfeng's personal network, communicating one-on-one, and they didn't even provide a complete business plan.

But valuation is an unavoidable core issue in financing.

DeepSeek's valuation logic is hard to calculate. On one hand, it lacks revenue data to support it; the models are open-source, which means free, but can also be understood as having not yet found a profit model. On the other hand, DeepSeek's technical strength and talent density are recognized as top-tier in the industry. The R1 model can compete with GPT-4 in tasks such as mathematical reasoning and code generation, and even has advantages in certain dimensions.

This state of "strong technology, weak commercialization" turns the valuation game into a black box in the primary market. Investors rely on their faith in the AI track, judgment of team capabilities, and imagination of future commercialization space.

And DeepSeek itself clearly doesn't want this valuation number to become the focus of market discussion. It prefers to maintain mystery, leaving enough buffer between financing and product releases.

But Kairun's announcement blew this buffer zone flat.

Accidental Exposure by a Luggage Company

Kairun Co., Ltd. has nothing to do with AI in its business. It mainly deals in luggage, luggage accessories, and travel goods, with brands like "90 Points," and sells quite well on e-commerce platforms.

So, why could it participate in DeepSeek's financing?

The answer isn't complicated. The founder of Kairun and DeepSeek's founder Liang Wenfeng were college classmates. According to the announcement, Kairun participated in this round of financing through its subsidiary fund. This fund was likely established jointly by people in Liang Wenfeng's circle.

This isn't the first time Kairun has participated in AI investments. Previously, it invested in smart hardware and artificial intelligence tracks. But this time, it unintentionally played the role of an "accidental exposé."

In the announcement, Kairun disclosed the investment amount and shareholding ratio, and then casually disclosed DeepSeek's overall valuation. For a listed company, this information is routine procedure, but for DeepSeek, it was passive information leakage.

DeepSeek's valuation was instantly dragged from a hidden circle into the public eye.

The Real Logic Behind the Valuation Number

What does 350 billion mean?

Comparatively speaking, among AI unicorn companies, those with valuations exceeding this number are rare. ByteDance's AI business has a high valuation, but that's for ByteDance as a whole. As an independent company, DeepSeek's valuation already exceeds most AI startups and even some listed companies' market caps.

But that's not the point. The point is that this valuation number exposes the pricing logic of DeepSeek's financing round.

From the announcement, DeepSeek's financing round did not adopt the typical "raise-as-needed" model, but rather a "raise-by-person" model. That is, it wasn't how much money DeepSeek needed, but how much Liang Wenfeng's friends were willing to invest. The valuation was reverse-engineered based on this fixed amount.

This financing method is known in the industry as "friends investing." The advantage is fast financing speed, requiring no complex due diligence or negotiation; the disadvantage is that the valuation may deviate from the true market level.

350 billion is likely the "tacit price" agreed upon by Liang Wenfeng and his friends. This price reflects his confidence in the team and technology, but isn't so high that it embarrasses his friends.

But the problem is, this "tacit price" is now public. Next, if other investors want to join DeepSeek, they have to go by this valuation. If they don't want to go by this valuation,

Original link: https://www.qbitai.com/2026/07/453641.html