Manus is back on its own — and investors just backed that bet with a very large check.
Butterfly Effect, the parent company of AI agent startup Manus, said Thursday it has completed a funding round of more than $500 million, according to Reuters. The round was co-led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing investors Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), and ZhenFund participating. The company did not disclose a valuation; Bloomberg had previously reported Manus was targeting roughly a $4 billion valuation.
It is a remarkable second act. Meta agreed to acquire Manus for more than $2 billion in a deal announced in late 2025, after the startup went viral for a demo of its AI agent and relocated staff to Singapore. In April 2026, Beijing ordered Meta to unwind the acquisition amid tightening scrutiny of US investment in Chinese startups developing advanced AI technologies. Manus resumed operating as an independent company in August, and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the split with Meta.
Manus builds general-purpose AI agents that can autonomously carry out tasks such as research and automation with minimal human input, and it has broadened its lineup to a chatbot and tools for building apps and websites. The business has grown quickly: The Information reported in June that its annualized revenue run rate had reached about $500 million, up from roughly $100 million when Meta acquired it.
The fundraise is the company's first since the Meta deal collapsed, and the message from the capital markets is hard to miss: investors are willing to back an independent AI agent company even as the US–China tech standoff raises the cost of doing cross-border AI deals. The round makes Manus one of the most valuable AI agent companies to emerge from China, and backers appear to be wagering that agents — software that completes tasks rather than simply answering questions — are becoming a major category of their own.
What to watch now is whether the momentum lasts. Manus is reportedly considering a Hong Kong listing, though that process is not expected to begin until 2027 at the earliest, according to Reuters. The company said it will keep hiring both in China and abroad. For now, it has gone from regulatory casualty to a well-funded independent in a matter of months — a trajectory few startups get to attempt, let alone pull off.