Leer en español: China anuló la venta de Manus a Meta por $2 mil millones. Ahora levantó $500 millones

Manus, the AI agent startup whose sale to Meta was blocked by Beijing, has raised more than $500 million, its parent company Butterfly Effect said in a WeChat post on 8 October (TechCrunch). It is the company’s first funding round since the deal fell apart.

What happened

Manus went viral in 2025 with a demo of its AI agent and moved staff to Singapore in mid-2025. In December 2025, Meta announced it would buy the company for about $2 billion. On 27 April 2026, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said it would “prohibit foreign investment in Manus” and required the parties to “withdraw the acquisition transaction” (agency report, 28 Apr). Manus went back to running independently in August and had to delete some user data as part of the split.

The new round is led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund joining. Manus did not disclose a valuation. In September, Bloomberg reported it was seeking about $4 billion, and that founders and early backers had bought back Meta’s stake at the original $2 billion price (as summarised by Dealroom). Neither figure is confirmed by the company.

Why people are arguing about it

To Beijing, this was about keeping AI talent and technology from moving to a geopolitical rival, as TechCrunch and the agency reports describe it. To foreign buyers, it is a warning that a deal can be reversed months after it is announced, even when the company has moved staff abroad. And the investors who returned are mostly Chinese, which suggests Manus’s future is now closer to home than to Silicon Valley.

What it means if you’re building a startup

A signed acquisition is not a finished exit. Regulators, foreign-investment reviews and politics can undo it, and you may have to rebuild the company afterwards. If your buyer or investor is a big foreign company, ask early which approvals the deal needs and what happens if one is refused. Who you take money from shapes who can later buy you. We cover that trade-off in Should you take money from a supplier?

Sources

• TechCrunch, “China’s Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta” by Kate Park, 8 Oct 2026: techcrunch.com
• Qatar Tribune (agency report), “China orders Meta to unwind $2 bn buy of AI startup Manus”, 28 Apr 2026: qatar-tribune.com
• Dealroom summary of Bloomberg reporting, 17 Sep 2026: dealroom.co. Valuation and buyback details come from unnamed sources.

Written by Fabian Cisneros. Educational only — not investment, legal or tax advice. See the full disclaimer.