China's Manus Raises Over $500M in First Funding Round Since Meta Deal Collapse
Chinese AI lab Manus's parent company, Butterfly Effect, announced Thursday in a WeChat post that it has raised more than $500 million โ the company's first funding round since Meta was forced to abandon its $2 billion acquisition of the startup.
Investment Details
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), ZhenFund, and others participating. The AI company said it will continue hiring both domestically and internationally.
Manus did not disclose its valuation, but was reportedly in talks last month with investors to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation.
From Viral Demo to Regulatory Setback
Manus gained widespread attention following a demo of its AI agent last year. The company relocated its staff to Singapore in mid-2025 before announcing the $2 billion acquisition deal with Meta that December. At the time, the startup was reportedly generating annual recurring revenue exceeding $100 million.
In April 2026, Chinese authorities ordered the AI startup to unwind the deal amid intensifying concerns in China over losing AI talent and researchers to the West. Manus resumed independent operations in August following the termination of the Meta deal and said it was required to delete certain user data as part of the split. The company is also reportedly considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
Manus did not respond to TechCrunch's questions about its valuation.
Product Portfolio
Manus develops AI products and agents comparable to offerings from Cursor, Lovable, and Replit. It provides a chatbot and vibe-coding tools that let users build apps and websites, create designs and presentations, generate video, and more.
The company recently launched Manus 2.0, which it says introduces a new architecture with new products 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 app enables agents to communicate, handle tasks across services, and make payments within user-defined limits.