China’s Manus raises over $500 million after Meta deal ended

In short: Manus’ parent company says it raised more than $500 million, its first major funding round since a planned $2 billion Meta acquisition was unwound.

What happened

Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI lab Manus, said in a WeChat post that it has raised more than $500 million. This is the company’s first funding round since a planned acquisition by Meta fell apart.

Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the funding round. Existing shareholders, including Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), and ZhenFund, also took part.

Manus did not share its new valuation, which is the price investors put on the whole company. TechCrunch reported last month that Manus was discussing raising $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, but that figure was not confirmed.

The backstory is unusual. Manus moved staff to Singapore in mid 2025 and later agreed to a $2 billion acquisition by Meta in December 2025. In April 2026, Chinese authorities ordered the startup to unwind the deal, citing concerns about losing AI talent overseas.

Manus resumed independent operations in August and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the split. The company also said it will keep hiring in China and abroad.

Manus sells AI tools, including an “AI agent” (think of it like a digital helper that can carry out tasks for you), plus chatbot and app building features. It recently announced Manus 2.0 and a separate app called Cue, which gives these agents their own email addresses and other accounts so they can handle tasks across different services within user-set limits.

Why it matters

A funding round this large shows that investors still want to back AI companies building tools that can do work on a user’s behalf. It also highlights how government decisions can reshape where AI companies operate, who can buy them, and what happens to user data.

Source: TechCrunch AI