Manus Seeks $4B Valuation in $500M Round After Meta Split
TL;DR
- Manus is close to a $500M raise at a $4B valuation, roughly double the $2B mark set when investors bought Meta out.
- Tencent Holdings, HongShan and ZhenFund remain on the cap table, with Tencent in talks to become the largest shareholder.
- It is Manus's first financing since Beijing ordered it to sever its acquisition path with Meta, with separation completed in May.
Manus is close to sealing a $500 million funding round at a $4 billion valuation, roughly double its previous $2 billion mark, Bloomberg reported. It would be the agentic AI startup's first financing since Chinese regulators ordered it to unwind an acquisition path with Meta Platforms.
Existing shareholders Tencent Holdings, HongShan (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund still sit on the cap table. Tencent, BigGo Finance's write-up of the Bloomberg story notes, "is in discussions to become Manus's largest shareholder." Terms may still change.
The Meta unwind is why this is only round two. Beijing "required Manus to sever the takeover agreement and co-operation, citing a need to stop technology flowing to a geopolitical rival," per one account of the breakup. "Meta had agreed to acquire Manus once the start-up's annualised revenue cleared US$100 million"; the two sides completed operational separation in May and ceased data sharing. Founders and existing investors then bought back Meta's stake at the unchanged $2 billion valuation.
At $4 billion, Manus would be the highest-valued startup in China's AI agent field, ahead of rival Evoken, the developer of design agent Lovart, which is reportedly raising at about $3 billion. A Hong Kong listing could follow. The raise lands amid a steady run of China AI financings we've been tracking, including Biren's mulled $1B share placement earlier this week.
Originally reported by bloomberg.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Manus Targets $4B Valuation in $500M Round, First Financing Since Beijing-Ordered Meta Split