Manus parent Butterfly Effect raises over $500m after Meta deal ends

Manus parent Butterfly Effect raises over $500m after Meta deal ends

8 October 2026: Butterfly Effect, the company behind the Manus AI agent, has completed a new funding round of more than $500 million. In a post on its WeChat account, the company says the round was led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund continuing their backing. The post gives no valuation and says hiring at home and abroad continues.

Not yet independently verified. The company's own post is three sentences long and gives the amount only as "over $500 million". No valuation has been confirmed by the company. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

TechCrunch, which reported the news, describes it as the first financing since Meta was forced to call off its $2 billion acquisition of the startup. Manus relocated its staff to Singapore in mid-2025, and the Meta deal was announced that December, when the product was reported to be earning annual recurring revenue above $100 million. In April, TechCrunch says, Chinese authorities ordered the unwinding of the deal, amid concern in China about losing AI talent to the West. Manus resumed independent operations in August and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the split.

TechCrunch notes that Manus did not answer its questions about valuation. It adds that last month the company was said to be in talks to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, a figure the company has not confirmed, and that it is reported to be considering a Hong Kong listing.

On the product side, Manus offers a chatbot and tools that let users build apps and websites, create designs and presentations and generate video. It recently launched Manus 2.0, which it says rests on a new architecture, and Cue, a stand-alone app that gives personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers, digital wallets and computers. The app lets agents make payments within limits the user sets.

The WeChat post invites applicants to the company's careers site.

Company profile on TrustList: Manus

Sources

• Butterfly Effect (Manus): Manus completes new round of over USD 500 million (WeChat), 8 October 2026
• TechCrunch: China's Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta, 8 October 2026