Manus has secured a new financial lifeline. The Chinese AI startup raised over $500 million in its first funding round since Meta’s attempted acquisition fell apart, putting the company back in independent hands after a turbulent stretch.
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, while existing shareholders Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund also invested. HSG was formerly known as Sequoia China, giving the round a mix of new leadership and returning backers.
Manus did not disclose its valuation. Last month, however, the company was said to be in talks to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, so the new funding appears to match the scale of those discussions without confirming their terms.
A $2 Billion Deal That Never Closed
Meta announced its acquisition of Manus in December, after pursuing a deal valued at $2 billion. Chinese regulators later blocked the transaction, forcing Meta to call off the acquisition before it could reach completion.
The National Development and Reform Commission said it had decided to “prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project.” That decision ended a deal that had already moved beyond casual talks: Meta had begun integrating Manus’ team and technology into its own before regulators stopped the transaction.
Manus operates under Butterfly Effect, its parent company. The startup resumed independent operations in August after the split from Meta, leaving it to rebuild its business while carrying technology and products that had briefly been headed into Meta’s operation.
The funding round is therefore not just another venture announcement. It is Manus’ first financing since the acquisition attempt failed, and it arrives after a forced change in ownership plans that had already pulled the company toward Meta.
Manus Pushes Its Agent Strategy
Since returning to independent operations, Manus has launched Manus 2.0. The new version runs on Cascade, a new in-house execution system that forms the technical foundation for the company’s latest product push.
Manus also launched Cue, a standalone personal-agent app. Each agent receives an email address, a phone number, and a mobile wallet, giving the product a set of digital tools that extend beyond a conventional chatbot interface.
Those launches place personal agents at the center of Manus’ next phase. The company is not presenting only a new model; it is building agents with accounts, communication tools, and financial instruments attached to them. The wallet is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Meta is pursuing the same broad category from its own side. The company launched its personal AI agent, Muse, in early September, before Manus announced this new round and after the acquisition effort had been blocked.
As of October 8, 2026, Manus has funding, a new execution system, and a product strategy built around personal agents. Its valuation remains undisclosed, but the company has moved from a $2 billion acquisition attempt to more than $500 million in fresh financing without returning to Meta’s ownership.
That makes the next phase easier to describe than the last one: Manus is independent again, backed by Boyu Capital, IDG Capital, Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund, and competing in a market where Meta now has its own agent. The acquisition ended. The contest did not.
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