Investors are paying unusually high fees to access investment vehicles tied to DeepSeek, the Hangzhou-based AI lab valued at about $71bn before its latest fundraising. The ongoing round follows a $7bn raise just a month earlier that valued the company at $52bn. Demand remains intense despite restrictive terms including a five-year lock-up and no voting rights, as DeepSeek seeks to retain control over its development.

A secondary market has emerged in special-purpose vehicles, with some investors offered access through multiple layers of funds charging escalating fees. One Hong Kong family office received information through eight different vehicles, with pre-investment fees ranging from 6% to over 15% and carry as high as 40%. Typical charges for similar vehicles are 2% pre-investment fee and 20% carry.

These vehicles were created by investors who obtained allocations of DeepSeek shares but want to distribute risk by bringing in external money. DeepSeek is not involved in such arrangements and may only recently have become aware of them. Founder Liang Wenfeng is now reviewing investor lineups, including verifying limited partners, to prevent shares from ending up with unknown entities ahead of a planned IPO.