n January, DeepSeek AI emerged from seeming obscurity to shock the tech world.
The Chinese company, founded by Liang Wenfeng, a software engineer and quantitative hedge fund manager, unveiled a model for generative AI that rivaled OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it was “super impressive” and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen called it “AI’s Sputnik moment.” The threat of competition from China caused Nvidia to lose almost $600 billion in market value in a single day.
Amid the scramble, one crucial point was missed: DeepSeek didn’t just appear out of nowhere.
According to China’s corporate registration filings, DeepSeek is closely linked to High Flyer Asset Management, a quantitative trading firm based in the city of Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered. DeepSeek is controlled by Liang and his partners from High Flyer, including Zheng Dawei and Xu Jin. Both companies operate from the same Hangzhou building complex.
The records also show that Liang and his partners began setting up a series of funds and partnerships, mostly in 2023—the same year DeepSeek was founded. Liang typically holds the largest stake, including 84 percent of DeepSeek and 85 percent of High Flyer. (In all, corporate filings show, Liang has personal stakes in more than 22 companies.)
High Flyer is just one of millions of Chinese companies that are required to file detailed ownership information with the Chinese government. These records are not just accessible—they’re surprisingly comprehensive.
For DeepSeek, we found more than just Liang’s controlling stake and the connection to High Flyer. We uncovered details about key executives, board members, and even past investments. Using these records we could also trace DeepSeek’s evolution as a company, and see that it was built, officially, with private and not state capital. The data, in other words, provided critical insights when DeepSeek announced the release of its large language model. As the team’s credentials became clear, initial skepticism quickly faded.
It might surprise some, especially in the U.S., that China provides some of the world’s most detailed corporate ownership records. They can be used to track the fortunes of state owned enterprises, or AI and EV startups. The challenge is not finding the data—it’s connecting the dots.
That’s why we built WireScreen. Since 2019, we’ve been creating a tool to make these connections clearer. It’s been a learning experience that underscores how vital it is to understand corporate structures, especially when navigating the complex landscape that connects Chinese businesses to global commerce.
Our data covers a wide range—from ownership breakdowns to investment histories and strategic ties. The key lesson? Context matters. Knowing who owns a company is just the start—you also need to understand the network and relationships behind it and how it accumulates wealth and power.
Using WireScreen, we are also able to locate the records for DeepSeek’s rivals, including Kaifu Lee’s O1.AI, MoonshotAI and DeepGlint, not to mention the registration filings for some of the country’s leading AI centers, such as the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence and the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
DeepSeek’s breakout in January seemed sudden, but signs were there earlier. In May 2023, the company released DeepSeek Coder, its first open-source model for coding tasks. Those paying attention could see the potential brewing long before it hit the mainstream.
If you know where to look—and how to piece it together—you can spot the future before it arrives.
