DeepSeek raises nearly $16 billion, about a fifth from China's state

SITUATION EXPLAINED: DeepSeek just raised nearly $16B, and about a fifth of it reportedly came from the Chinese state. • This round more than doubled DeepSeek's original target and values it at about $74B before the new cash comes in • It comes 4 months after a $7.4B round in June, pushing DeepSeek's 2026 fundraising above $22B • Founder Liang Wenfeng controlled about 91% of DeepSeek before this round • The raise is reportedly partly a cushion against black-market prices for Nvidia's Blackwell chips, which US export controls bar from China • Some reports put the state-backed share even higher, at 27% @theojaffee: "One thing that people need to keep in mind when they see numbers in the billions is that the US is a really, really capital deep country, $16 billion is one out of every…