Manus parent Butterfly Effect announced on October 8, 2026 that it has raised more than $500 million, according to TechCrunch and CNBC. It is the company’s first funding round since Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus was unwound. The announcement came in a WeChat post.
Who invested
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the round. Existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), ZhenFund and others also took part. Manus said it will keep hiring at home and abroad.
The valuation is not confirmed
Manus did not disclose its valuation. Bloomberg reported in September a figure of about $4 billion. That number is unconfirmed: it comes from Bloomberg’s reporting, not from Manus, and we have not verified it.
How it got here
Manus launched in China in early 2025 and later moved its staff to Singapore. Meta announced a $2 billion deal to buy it in December 2025. In April 2026, Chinese authorities ordered the deal unwound, and the National Development and Reform Commission said it had decided to “prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project.” Manus has since resumed independent operations.
Since the split, Manus has released Manus 2.0 and Cue, a standalone app that gives personal AI agents their own email addresses, phone numbers and digital wallets. TechCrunch reports Manus is also said to be considering a Hong Kong listing; the company did not respond to its questions about valuation.
Why this matters
This section is our analysis. A large funding round shows investor interest. It is not proof that an AI agent is reliable, profitable or safe to let act across services. Anyone considering an agent product like Cue should check what data it can access, what spending controls exist, and how it handles failures.
What is not known
Manus has not said how much each investor put in, its post-round valuation, or whether it will list. The size of the round is as announced by the company and reported by TechCrunch and CNBC; we have not independently verified it.
Sources: TechCrunch, October 8, 2026 and CNBC, October 8, 2026. Company statements via press reports.
