China's Manus raises over $500M after failed Meta deal

Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI lab Manus, said in a WeChat post on Thursday that it has raised more than $500 million. It is the startup's first funding round since Meta was forced to call off its $2 billion acquisition of the company.

The round was led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with participation from existing shareholders including Tencent, HSG (formerly known as Sequoia China), ZhenFund and others. The company said it will keep hiring both at home and abroad.

Manus did not disclose its valuation, though last month it was reported to be in talks with investors to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation.

From viral demo to the Meta split

Manus went viral last year after a demo of its AI agent. In mid-2025 it relocated its staff to Singapore, and in December announced the $2 billion acquisition deal with Meta. At the time, its annual recurring revenue was said to exceed $100 million.

In April, Chinese authorities ordered the startup to unwind the deal amid intensifying concerns within the country over losing AI talent and researchers to the West. In August, Manus resumed independent operations after the Meta deal ended, and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the split. The company is also reported to be considering an IPO in Hong Kong.

Products

Manus builds AI products and agents similar to those offered by Cursor, Lovable and Replit. Its tools include a chatbot and vibe-coding features that let users assemble apps and websites, create designs and presentations, generate video and more.

The company recently launched Manus 2.0, which it says features a new architecture and capabilities built around a new harness. It also introduced Cue, a stand-alone app that gives personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers, digital wallets and computers. The agents can communicate with one another, handle tasks across services and make payments within limits set by the user.

Source: TechCrunch