According to a report by Caijing, the frenzy around AI unicorn DeepSeek's nearly finalized $10 billion funding round has given rise to a secondary market of special purpose vehicles (SPVs). Lesser-known limited partners (LPs) can only buy in indirectly by purchasing securitized shares through these SPVs, paying extra management and channel fees while facing significant transaction security risks.
The overseas tech giants have moved to clean up unauthorized channels before any potential IPO. OpenAI and Anthropic recently announced policies declaring all SPV share transfers made without official written consent to be void from the start. Since such unauthorized transfers are legally treated as never having occurred, buyers — even if they've paid — receive no shareholder rights. Chinese investors trying to invest through nominee arrangements similarly face compliance risks with no way to confirm their ownership.