Manus Raises $500 Million After Beijing Blocked Meta Deal

Butterfly Effect, the company behind the AI agent Manus, has pulled in more than $500 million in fresh funding. The startup said so in a WeChat post, according to TechCrunch. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, with Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund also taking part.

Manus didn’t say what valuation came with the money. That leaves a gap where the price tag should be, and a pretty big one. In September, Bloomberg said the company was talking about raising $500 million at a valuation of about $4 billion, roughly twice the price Meta had agreed to pay.

And that Meta deal is the key to the whole story. In December 2025, Manus agreed to be acquired for about $2 billion after moving its staff and headquarters from China to Singapore earlier that year. At the time, it said annualized revenue was above $100 million. Then in April 2026, Chinese authorities ordered the deal unwound, saying they were worried about AI talent and know-how leaving for the West.

Meta walked away, Manus had to delete user data as part of relaunching on its own, and now the money is flowing from the other side. The company says it will use part of the new funding to keep hiring in China and abroad. It is also reportedly thinking about an IPO in Hong Kong.

Manus first broke through in early 2025 with a viral demo of an AI agent that can research and finish tasks on its own. Since then it has spread into chatbots, vibe-coding tools, presentations, design and video. Its newest product, Cue, hands each agent its own email address, phone number, digital wallet and computer, with user-set payment limits.