CATL and Tencent back Deepseek's ballooning funding round as the AI startup eyes a 2027 IPO

Deepseek is close to raising at least $12 billion in a new funding round, Bloomberg reports. The Chinese AI startup originally aimed to raise about $7.5 billion at a valuation of roughly $75 billion. People familiar with the matter say the total could approach $15 billion. Battery maker CATL and Tencent are contributing the largest shares. The strong investor interest stems from Deepseek's V4-Flash model,…