Eight months ago, Manus looked like a done deal. Meta had agreed to buy the viral AI agent startup for about $2 billion, and its founders had already moved to Singapore. Then Beijing stepped in, the sale was unwound, and the company had to learn how to stand on its own again. On Thursday it announced the next chapter: a funding round of more than $500 million.
The short version
- Manus’s parent company, Butterfly Effect, says it raised more than $500 million
- Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, with Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund also taking part
- It is the first round since Meta’s $2 billion acquisition was called off
- No valuation was disclosed, but earlier reports pointed to roughly $4 billion
How Manus got here
Manus went viral last year after a demo of its AI agent showed software that could take a goal and carry out the work on its own. The team relocated its staff to Singapore in mid-2025, and in December Meta announced it would acquire the company for $2 billion. Manus was reportedly pulling in annual recurring revenue above $100 million at that point, which is a rare number for a startup that young.
In April, Chinese authorities ordered the deal to be unwound. The reasoning, as TechCrunch reports it, was growing worry in China about losing AI talent and researchers to the West. In August Manus resumed independent operations, and it said it had to delete some user data as part of the split. This week’s round is the first real proof that outside investors still want in.
Who is putting in the money
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round. Existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (the firm formerly known as Sequoia China) and ZhenFund joined in. Manus said it will keep hiring both in China and abroad. That detail matters, because the talent question was the whole reason Beijing intervened in the first place.
| Detail | What we know |
|---|---|
| Amount raised | More than $500 million |
| Lead investors | Boyu Capital, IDG Capital |
| Returning investors | Tencent, HSG, ZhenFund and others |
| Valuation | Not disclosed. Reported talks last month pointed to about $4 billion |
| Revenue at the time of the Meta deal | Reported annual recurring revenue above $100 million |
| Possible next step | A reported Hong Kong IPO |
What Manus actually sells
Manus builds AI products and agents in the same neighborhood as Cursor, Lovable and Replit. Users get a chatbot plus vibe coding tools for building apps and websites, designing, making presentations and generating video. For a sense of how hot that category is, look at Lovable’s $13.3 billion valuation, which doubled in eight months.
The company recently shipped Manus 2.0, which it says rests on a new architecture and a new harness around the model. It also launched Cue, a standalone app that gives a personal AI agent its own email address, phone number, digital wallet and computer. The agent can message people, work across services and make payments, all within limits the user sets. That is a bold bet on agents that act with real money, and it echoes the trust questions we raised about Meta’s own agent that can email, shop and pay for you.
What to keep in perspective
- The valuation is unconfirmed. Manus did not answer TechCrunch’s questions about it
- The $4 billion figure is a report. It came from talks described last month, not from the company
- The IPO is also a report. A Hong Kong listing is being considered, not announced
Why this round matters
The bigger story is what the deal says about the AI map. A US giant tried to absorb a fast growing Chinese-founded agent company, and the Chinese government said no. Now the same company has raised more than $500 million from largely Chinese investors, and reportedly at roughly double the price Meta agreed to pay. Whatever you think of the politics, that is a strong result for a startup that had to unwind a blockbuster sale.
It also shows that talent and technology are now treated as national assets. Europe made a similar argument when Mistral raised a record round, which we covered in our look at Mistral’s sovereignty pitch. Expect more founders to find that who owns the company, and where its people sit, is now part of the product story.
What to watch next
- A confirmed valuation. If the $4 billion number holds, Manus will have doubled the Meta price
- A Hong Kong IPO filing. That would be the next clear signal of where the company wants to sit
- Cue adoption. Agents with their own wallets will test how much autonomy users really want
- Hiring abroad. The company says it will keep recruiting overseas, which is where any friction with regulators could return
Manus lost its exit, kept its product and found new money. Whether that adds up to an independent success story depends on how well Manus 2.0 and Cue hold up against American rivals with deeper pockets.
Sources and further reading
- TechCrunch: China’s Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta
- AI Chief: Manus seeks $4B valuation in new $500M fundraise
- DealStreetAsia: Manus founders seek $1B to undo Meta takeover
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