Manus Eyes $4B Valuation in $500M Round After Meta Deal Falls Through
The Chinese AI startup is raising fresh capital and preparing for a Hong Kong IPO following Beijing's block of its acquisition by Meta earlier this year.
Manus, a Chinese artificial intelligence company that abandoned a merger agreement with Meta, is now seeking to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation as it operates independently once again, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The funding round is attracting interest from IDG Capital, Boyu Capital, and Contemporary Amperex Technology, the battery manufacturer, alongside returning investors Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund, the Journal reported. In parallel, Manus is exploring a corporate restructuring to position itself for a Hong Kong listing.
Manus gained widespread attention after demonstrating its AI agent capabilities last year. The company moved its workforce to Singapore in the middle of 2025, then agreed to a $2 billion acquisition by Meta in December. At that point, the startup was generating more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
Chinese authorities ultimately rejected the transaction. Beijing cited concerns about artificial intelligence talent and researcher departures to Western nations, along with potential breaches of export control and foreign investment regulations.
The company has since worked to disentangle itself from Meta, with early backers helping facilitate a share buyback at roughly $2 billion in valuation. In August, Manus notified its user base that they would need to download and preserve their own data, as the company was obligated to remove information created after Meta's acquisition to "comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions."
This month, Manus announced it had restarted independent operations under continued leadership from its founding team. The startup develops AI products and agents comparable to offerings from OpenAI, Lovable, and Replit, providing a conversational interface and code-generation capabilities for constructing applications, websites, designs, presentations, video content, and other digital assets.
Manus has not yet responded to requests for additional comment.
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