Omanghana
Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is reportedly preparing to appoint its first chief financial officer as it considers an initial public offering on Shanghai’s technology-focused STAR Market.
The Hangzhou-based company plans to hire Yan Wentao, a partner at GL Ventures, according to people familiar with the matter. The appointment would represent a major step in DeepSeek’s transition from a research-oriented laboratory financed by its founder into a more conventionally structured technology company.
Yan has experience in venture capital and corporate dealmaking. His investment portfolio includes Chinese AI developer MiniMax, one of DeepSeek’s domestic competitors. GL Ventures is the venture-capital arm of Hillhouse Investment, although Hillhouse is not currently an investor in DeepSeek.
As chief financial officer, Yan would be expected to oversee areas including financial controls, capital allocation, regulatory disclosures and communication with investors. These responsibilities are particularly important for a company preparing to enter public capital markets.
The reported appointment follows DeepSeek’s engagement of Chinese brokerage CITIC Securities to assist with preparations for a possible domestic listing. The company is said to be considering Shanghai’s STAR Market, which was established to support innovative and rapidly growing technology businesses.
DeepSeek reportedly hopes to begin the IPO preparation process before the end of 2026. However, no final application date, fundraising target or market debut has been publicly confirmed.
The company and the individuals involved had not formally commented on the reported CFO appointment or provided a definitive timetable for the proposed listing at the time of reporting. The plans should therefore be regarded as preliminary and could still change.
DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng and was initially financed through his quantitative hedge fund, High-Flyer. The company has since started opening itself to outside investors as the cost of competing in the global AI industry continues to rise.
Developing advanced AI models requires substantial expenditure on computing infrastructure, specialized chips, research and highly skilled employees. DeepSeek has consequently increased its investment in computing capacity, chip development and talent retention.
Access to public capital could provide the company with additional resources to fund that expansion and compete with other well-financed Chinese and international AI developers.
DeepSeek attracted worldwide attention with the release of relatively low-cost AI models that challenged assumptions about the level of spending required to develop advanced systems. Its reported preparations for a public listing suggest that the company is entering a new phase cent red on corporate governance, commercial expansion and large-scale capital investment.
Source: Omanghana
