Baidu Ventures CEO Responds to Missing Out on DeepSeek

Skip to content

Baidu Ventures, located right above DeepSeek’s Beijing office, has sparked debates as to why they missed the opportunity to invest in DeepSeek.

In response to this issue, Baidu Ventures CEO Gao Xue stated on February 9th that when DeepSeek first moved into the Rongke Information Center in May 2024, they promptly visited them and maintained an amicable relationship. However, due to the fact that the large-scale business “Magic Square Quantitative Fund” was not independently structured for a financing plan, similar to other VCs, they were unable to become investors in DeepSeek.

The Magic Square Quantitative Fund behind DeepSeek was established by its founder, Liang Wenfeng, back in 2008 during his studies in Information and Communication Engineering at Zhejiang University. It operates as a hedge fund with expertise in mathematics, computation, research, and AI. Leveraging its substantial financial resources and assets, the Magic Square Quantitative Fund does not rely on external venture capital for its large-scale business development.

Gao Xue further clarified that Baidu Ventures is BV Baidu Ventures, distinct from Baidu‘s investment division. It was established as an independent venture capital firm by the Baidu Group in 2017.

Despite missing out on investing in DeepSeek, Baidu Ventures’ commitment to the artificial intelligence sector remains unwavering. Gao Xue highlighted that Baidu Ventures has made successive investments in over a hundred Chinese startup companies in AI, including DeepPower Technology in deep multimodal models, Shidi Zhijia and Jiushi Intelligent in autonomous driving, Zhiyuan Technology and Xinghaitu in embodied intelligence, Molecular Heart in AI protein design, and Huayi Quantum in quantum computing. Baidu Ventures will continue to vigorously invest in more Chinese AI startups.

Recent rumors suggested that Alibaba planned to invest $1 billion in DeepSeek, but Alibaba has since denied these claims.

SEE ALSO: Baichuan AI Seeks VC Role, Hiring Investment Talent

Sign up today for 5 free articles monthly!

You have reached your free article limit.

Subscribe now to get unlimited access.

Subscribe now

We also support Hindi language, do you want change to it?

हम यह भी हिन्दी भाषा का समर्थन है, आप इसे करने के लिए परिवर्तन करना चाहते हैं?

Yes(ह)

We also support Punjabi language, do you want change to it?

ਸਾਨੂੰ ਇਹ ਵੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਨੂੰ ਸਹਿਯੋਗ ਹੈ, ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਇਸ ਨੂੰ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਤਬਦੀਲੀ ਚਾਹੁੰਦੇ ਹੋ?

Yes(ਜ)

We also support Bengali language, do you want change to it?

আমরা বাংলা ভাষা সমর্থন, আপনি এটি পরিবর্তন করতে চান?

Yes(হ)

We also support Burmese language, do you want change to it?

ငါတို့သည်လည်း, မြန်မာဘာသာစကားကိုထောကျပံ့သငျသညျကအပြောင်းအလဲလိုသလဲ

Yes(ဟုတ်ကဲ့)

We also support Nepali language, do you want change to it?

हामी पनि नेपाली भाषा समर्थन, तपाईं यसलाई परिवर्तन गर्न चाहनुहुन्छ?

Yes(ह)

We also support Tagalog language, do you want change to it?

Sinusuportahan din namin ang Tagalog wika, ang gusto mong pagbabago dito?

Yes(oo)

We also support Malay language, do you want change to it?

Kami juga menyokong bahasa Melayu, adakah anda mahu perubahan kepadanya?

Yes(yes)

We also support Indonesian language, do you want change to it?

Kami juga mendukung bahasa Indonesia, apakah Anda ingin perubahan untuk itu?

Yes(Iya)

We also support Thai language, do you want change to it?

นอกจากนี้เรายังสนับสนุนภาษาไทย, คุณต้องการที่เปลี่ยนแปลงไปได้หรือไม่

Yes(ใช่)