Manus is raising fresh capital as it returns to independent operations after its planned acquisition by Meta was called off. Its parent company, Butterfly Effect, said in a WeChat post on Thursday that the funding round brought in more than $500 million.
The announcement marks the company’s first funding round since the Meta deal ended. It did not disclose a valuation, leaving open how investors value the AI startup after a period of rapid growth, relocation and a change in ownership plans.
Investors back the AI startup
Boyu Capi tal and IDG Capital led the round. Existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly known as Sequoia China), ZhenFund and others also took part, according to the company.
Manus said it will continue hiring both at home and abroad. The announcement did not provide details about how many people it plans to hire or how it will use the new funding.
The company had not shared a valuation alongside its fundraising announcement. Last month it was said to be in talks with investors to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation. Manus did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions about its valuation, so that earlier figure remains unconfirmed by the company.
A planned acquisition ended
Manus became widely known after a demo of its AI agent went viral last year. The company relocated its staff to Singapore in mid-2025, before announcing a $2 billion acquisition deal with Meta that December. At the time, the startup was said to be generating annual recurring revenue of over $100 million.
In April, Chinese authorities ordered the startup to unwind the deal amid intensifying worries in China over losing AI talent and researchers to the West. Manus resumed independent operations in August after the Meta deal ended. The company said the split required it to delete some user data.
The funding gives Manus a new source of capital as it operates on its own again. The announcement does not say whether the company’s plans or products have changed because of the end of the acquisition.
Products span agents and app creation
Manus makes AI products and agents, with offerings similar to those from Cursor, Lovable, and Replit. Its chatbot and vibe-coding tools are designed to help users build apps and websites, create designs and presentations, generate video, and handle other tasks.
The company recently launched Manus 2.0, which it says brings a new architecture and new products and capabilities built around a new harness. The announcement describes the product as part of the company’s continuing work on AI tools, but does not give further technical details.
Manus also introduced Cue, a standalone app that gives personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers, digital wallets, and computers. The company says agents can use it to communicate, handle tasks across services, and make payments within limits set by the user.
More questions remain about the next phase
Manus is also reported to be considering going public in Hong Kong. The company’s funding announcement does not confirm that plan or set out a timeline.
For now, the clearest signals about Manus’ next phase are its new financing, its stated intention to keep hiring, and its recent product launches. The company has resumed independent operations, but it has not disclosed its valuation or explained how the new funding will shape its longer-term plans.