DeepSeek and Tenstorrent lead funding surge across AI infrastructure

DeepSeek secured $15 billion from a consortium including Tencent, CATL and Geely to develop open-source AI models and expand computing infrastructure. Its pre-money valuation reached $74 billion, with a potential post-money valuation nearing $89 billion. The company is preparing for a Shanghai STAR Market listing. Tenstorrent raised a $1.5 billion Series E at a $6.2 billion valuation to advance open RISC-V AI computing.

Funding also flowed into physical infrastructure and automation. Xona Space Systems secured $250 million in Series D funding for its Pulsar satellite navigation network, reaching a $2.45 billion valuation. Bedrock Robotics raised $600 million at a $4.1 billion valuation to deploy autonomous construction equipment. SpaceX secured a $40 billion debt deal for AI chips, while Elon Musk predicted widespread failures among smaller AI firms.

Developer infrastructure attracted substantial investment. Daytona raised $60 million in Series B funding at a $1 billion valuation for secure computing environments used by AI agents. Blacksmith secured a $66 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital for code-testing infrastructure. Simplismart raised $14M in Series B funding led by Dallas Venture Capital, with NVIDIA participating, to expand its inference platform and cloud partnerships.

Salmon Group secured $140 million to expand Philippine lending and banking products, using an AI credit engine to support financial decisions. Separately, AI-discovered critical PHP flaws and premature disclosure forced websites offline worldwide, highlighting the technology’s ability to accelerate both vulnerability discovery and exploitation.