AI news · Funding · agents
Manus raises over $500 million after Meta deal collapse
Boyu Capital and IDG led the round, the agent maker’s first since Beijing ordered Meta’s $2 billion purchase unwound.
Butterfly Effect, the company behind the AI agent maker Manus, said on Thursday 8 October 2026 that it has raised more than $500 million, TechCrunch reports. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round, which the company announced on WeChat, with Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund among existing backers taking part. It is the first raise since Chinese authorities forced Meta to drop its $2 billion acquisition.
Manus did not give a valuation. CNBC notes Bloomberg’s report last month that the round would double it to $4 billion. Meta announced the deal in December; China’s National Development and Reform Commission later said it would prohibit foreign investment in the project, by which point Meta had begun folding in Manus’s team.
Since the split, Manus has released Manus 2.0 and Cue, an app that gives each personal agent its own email address, phone number and wallet. Eurasia Group’s Dan Wang told CNBC that the raise shows the short-term fallout has been contained.
CNBC calls Manus a cautionary tale for Chinese start-ups caught between Beijing and Washington; its backers are now betting on it as an independent company.
Sources
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative ad strategist and copywriter with ten years' experience in digital marketing across multiple channels.