Butterfly Effect announced the round in a post on Chinese social media platform Weixin. According to a Google translation of the post, as well as multiple media reports, the round was led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with follow-on investment from Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund.
The company said in the post that it is recruiting both domestically and internationally.
Manus did not disclose its valuation, CNBC reported Thursday. It added that Bloomberg reported in September that Manus aimed to double its valuation to $4 billion.
Manus went viral last year after a demo of its AI agent, TechCrunch reported Thursday.
The Chinese company moved its staff to Singapore in mid-2025 before announcing in December 2025 that it had reached a deal to be acquired by Meta for $2 billion, according to the report.
Meta announced its plans to acquire Manus on Dec. 29, 2025, saying that Manus was already serving millions of users and businesses worldwide, less than a year after launching its first general AI agent, and that Meta planned to scale the service further.
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The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Meta was paying more than $2 billion for Manus.
CNBC reported in January that Chinese regulators were investigating Meta’s purchase of Manus and that the probe would focus on whether the deal complied with China’s export control laws.
The Chinese government halted Meta’s acquisition of Manus in April. China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced that it would “prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project” and required the companies to “withdraw the acquisition transaction.”
Manus said in an August note to its users that it would soon return to operating as an independent company and would continue to serve millions of users around the world.
The company said that as part of its separation from Meta, Manus would have to delete some data generated by users on and after the acquisition to comply with regulatory requirements in certain parts of the world.
“Since the launch of Manus, we haven’t stopped our pace of product iteration,” Manus said in the note. “As we look to the future, we’re already preparing a series of new features that will push the boundaries of what’s possible for general AI agents once again.”
In a Sept. 1 blog post, Manus said it had formally resumed independent operations with the founding team continuing to lead the company.
“Next, you will see Manus become more deeply embedded in your everyday workflows, interact more directly with the world around you, and act more proactively on your behalf,” the company said in the post.
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