DeepSeek is in talks to raise at least $300 million at a valuation of $10 billion or more, its first external fundraise after being funded entirely by parent hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, according to The Information. The shift follows mounting competitive pressure: key researcher departures to Xiaomi and ByteDance, delays getting its V4 model running on Huawei chips, and surging API demand that is straining compute capacity. U.S. VC participation is constrained by national security concerns, making domestic Chinese investors the most likely backers.