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Butterfly Effect, the parent company of AI-agent startup Manus, has completed a funding round of more than $500 million, Reuters reported on Thursday, October 8. The financing follows the company’s return to independent operations after unwinding Meta’s acquisition, a transaction valued at more than $2 billion.
The round was co-led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing investors Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund also participating, according to Reuters. The new capital gives the company fresh backing as it operates outside Meta, though the announcement did not state a valuation, disclose the investors’ individual contributions or specify how Butterfly Effect plans to use the funds.
The financing marks a significant turn for Manus, whose sale to Meta had been announced and completed before Chinese authorities ordered the parties to reverse it. The company, founded in China and based in Singapore, develops general-purpose AI agents designed to perform tasks such as research and automation with limited human input.
A new funding round after the Meta deal
Butterfly Effect’s latest fundraising comes after the company separated from Meta and resumed independent operations. Manus said in August that it would operate independently; Reuters reported that the process also involved deleting some user data as part of the separation.
The more-than-$500 million round is backed by both new and existing investors. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led it, while Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund returned as participants. No public breakdown of the investment or details of the company’s ownership following the fundraising were included in the available announcement.
The distinction between the earlier acquisition and this financing is important: Meta’s deal was reported as worth more than $2 billion, while the new figure represents capital raised by Butterfly Effect. The funding announcement does not establish that the company is now worth more or less than the prior acquisition price.
Beijing ordered the acquisition reversed
In April, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said it was prohibiting the foreign acquisition of Manus and required the parties to withdraw from the transaction. The commission’s public statement did not elaborate on its reasoning. The order followed scrutiny of the deal amid broader concerns around cross-border investment, technology transfers and advanced AI.
Meta had announced the acquisition in December, in a rare case of a major U.S. technology company buying an AI startup with substantial Chinese roots. Meta said at the time that the transaction complied with applicable law. The deal had already been completed, according to the Associated Press’s contemporaneous coverage of the Chinese order.
Manus’s corporate and geographic history added complexity. The company has Chinese roots but is based in Singapore, and its parent company before the acquisition was Singapore-based Butterfly Effect. Chinese authorities said they were reviewing whether the transaction complied with relevant laws and regulations before issuing the order.
Revenue growth had drawn investor attention
The fundraising follows a sharp increase in reported revenue momentum. The Information reported in June that Manus’s annualized revenue run rate had risen to about $500 million, from $100 million when Meta acquired it. A run rate is an annualized estimate based on recent revenue; it is not the same as audited full-year sales or profit.
The company’s revenue trajectory was already part of the story around the acquisition. The latest funding announcement, however, did not provide updated revenue figures, disclose profitability, or say whether the company’s commercial performance had changed since the earlier estimate.
Manus’s product is built around AI agents that can carry out multi-step tasks, rather than simply respond to prompts. Reuters described its tools as supporting research and automation, while the Associated Press reported examples including coding an application, conducting market research and preparing quarterly budgets. The reports did not provide new user, customer or product-performance figures alongside the fundraising news.
Questions remain about valuation and next steps
Key terms of the financing remain undisclosed in the available reporting. There is no confirmed post-money valuation, no reported allocation of the proceeds and no announced schedule for a subsequent fundraising, public listing or other corporate transaction.
It is also not clear from the announcement what governance or ownership arrangements followed the unwinding of Meta’s acquisition, or whether the company plans to change its operating footprint. Earlier reporting discussed a possible China joint-venture structure and a potential Hong Kong listing, but those possibilities were not confirmed as part of Thursday’s funding announcement.
For now, the confirmed development is that Butterfly Effect has secured more than $500 million from a group led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund participating. The round provides financing for Manus as an independent company, but its valuation, use of funds and longer-term corporate plans remain unknown.
