Manus Raises Over $500 Million After Failed Meta Deal

Last year, Meta announced a deal to acquire Manus for more than $2 billion and planned to bring Manus agents to its messaging apps. However, the Chinese government later blocked the deal.

According to CNBC, Manus has now secured more than $500 million in a new funding round led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital.

Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund also participated in the round. Manus parent company, Butterfly Effect, announced the financing on October 8, 2026.

The funding could push Manus toward a valuation of around $4 billion, potentially making it Singapore’s most valuable AI company. However, the company did not disclose its valuation following the round.

Manus keeps expanding its AI agent lineup

The new funding comes as Manus continues to expand its AI products and agent technology.

The company recently introduced Manus 2.0, which runs on its Cascade execution system and represents the latest version of its general-purpose AI agent platform.

Manus also launched Cue, a standalone personal AI agent app designed to give individual agents more autonomy.

Cue agents can receive their own email addresses, phone numbers, and mobile wallets, allowing them to interact with external services and perform tasks on behalf of users.

Meta is now competing directly with Manus

Although Meta’s acquisition attempt failed, the company has since entered the same market with its own AI agent.

Meta recently launched Muse, a personal AI agent capable of taking real-world actions, which has already reached 700,000 daily users despite early service issues, putting it in direct competition with Manus.

Microsoft has also confirmed that Meta Muse is coming to Windows, expanding the agent’s reach beyond Meta’s existing platforms.

With more than $500 million in new capital, Manus now has additional resources to develop its agent platform as competition with Meta and other AI companies intensifies.