Manus Parent Butterfly Effect Raises $500M+ After Meta Exit
TL;DR
- China's NDRC security review office formally banned the Meta acquisition on April 27; Meta cut Manus from its internal data systems in June with a required data deletion attached.
- Early investors bought Manus back at the original $2B valuation; the new $4B post-money doubles that in a single close, making it China's most valuable AI agent company.
- Backers include Boyu Capital and IDG Capital as leads, with CATL, Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund as follow-on shareholders -- a mix of PE, strategic corporate, and prior cap-table holders.
Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI agent Manus, has closed a funding round of more than $500 million, TechNode reported on October 8. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital co-led the round, with Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund also participating.
"The announcement did not disclose the company's valuation or the intended use of the new funds," TechNode wrote. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal had previously reported the round was targeting roughly a $4 billion valuation, a figure the company itself has not confirmed.
It is Manus's first raise since Meta's roughly $2 billion acquisition of Butterfly Effect was unwound in April on orders from Beijing, per reporting carried by Asharq Al-Awsat. Chinese regulators have tightened scrutiny of US investment in Chinese startups developing advanced AI technologies. Manus resumed independent operations later in the year.
Against a steady run of China-AI stories on our tracker this quarter, it is one of the loudest single capital events to come out of the country's agent sector.
What others are reporting
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CNBC Read →
Names Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund as existing shareholders joining the round, adding prior cap-table continuity detail absent from most coverage.
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Bloomberg Read →
First major outlet to flag the round on September 17, framing the $4B target as a doubling and establishing Manus as China's most valuable AI agent maker before close.
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France 24 (AFP) Read →
Adds co-founders' travel normalization post-review and flags the company's explicit pivot to domestic market products as a direct strategic consequence of the forced separation.
The funding round, the first since its founders and investors bought back the firm from Meta.
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TechCrunch Read →
Earliest detailed reporting naming all investors including CATL, surfacing the Hong Kong IPO track, and explaining the August data deletion requirement tied to Chinese regulatory compliance.
Beijing blocking the deal, citing potential violations of export controls and foreign investment rules.
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The Next Web Read →
Provides the granular unwind chronology: NDRC ban April 27, Meta data-system cut June, buyback at original $2B valuation, showing the full sequence before this close.
This would be the first raise since Meta's $2 billion-plus purchase of Manus was undone on Beijing's orders.
Originally reported by technode.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Manus Parent Butterfly Effect Raises $500M+ at $4B Valuation, First Round After Meta Buyout Unwinds