China's Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta

Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI lab Manus, announced Thursday that it has raised more than $500 million in its first funding round since Meta was forced to abandon its $2 billion acquisition of the startup. The company disclosed the raise in a post on WeChat. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, while existing shareholders Tencent, HSG, formerly known as Sequoia China, and ZhenFund also participated.

Manus declined to disclose its valuation, but the company was reported last month to be negotiating with investors to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, according to the announcement. Butterfly Effect said the AI company will keep hiring both domestically and overseas.

The funding marks a turnaround for Manus, which moved its staff to Singapore in mid-2025 before announcing the $2 billion acquisition deal with Meta that December. At that time, the startup was said to be generating annual recurring revenue above $100 million.

In April, Chinese authorities directed the AI startup to unwind the Meta deal as concerns grew in China about losing AI talent and researchers to the West. Manus returned to independent operations in August after the deal ended, and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the separation. The company is also reported to be weighing a public listing in Hong Kong.

Manus builds AI products and agents comparable to offerings from Cursor, Lovable, and Replit. Its chatbot and vibe-coding tools let users build apps and websites, create designs and presentations, and generate video, among other functions.

Manus recently launched Manus 2.0, which the company says introduces a new architecture with new products and capabilities built around a new harness. It also introduced Cue, a standalone app that gives personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers, digital wallets, and computers. The app allows agents to communicate, complete tasks across services, and make payments within limits set by the user.

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