Chinese AI lab Manus' parent company, Butterfly Effect, announced on Thursday via a WeChat post that it has secured more than $500 million in its first funding round since Meta forced the cancellation of the startup's $2 billion acquisition agreement.
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital spearheaded this investment with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), ZhenFund, and others contributing. The AI firm stated its intention to continue expanding its workforce both domestically and internationally.
While Manus did not disclose its current valuation, it was reportedly in negotiations last month to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation.
The company garnered significant attention after a demo of its AI agent went viral last year. It relocated its team to Singapore in mid-2025 and announced a $2 billion deal with Meta that December, reportedly generating over $100 million in annual recurring revenue at that time.
In April, Chinese authorities mandated that the AI startup unwind the Meta deal due to growing concerns regarding the outflow of AI talent and researchers to Western nations.
Following the dissolution of the Meta agreement, Manus resumed independent operations in August and confirmed that it was required to delete specific user data as part of the separation. The company is also reportedly considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
Manus did not respond to TechCrunch's inquiries regarding its valuation.
The startup develops AI products and agents comparable to offerings from Cursor, Lovable, and Replit, providing chatbots and "vibe-coding" tools for building applications, websites, designs, and presentations, as well as generating video content.
Recently, Manus launched Manus 2.0, a version featuring a new architecture and products built around a new harness. Additionally, the company introduced Cue, a standalone application that grants personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers, digital wallets, and computers, enabling them to communicate and handle tasks across services within pre-set user limits.
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