Manus parent Butterfly Effect raises over $500M

In March 2025, Butterfly Effect launched Manus. According to an October 8, 2026 report from IT之家, the company moved its headquarters to Singapore in June 2025, sharply reduced its domestic team, and fully stopped services and operations in mainland China. In April 2026, IT之家 reported that the Foreign Investment Security Review Working Mechanism Office, under the National Development and Reform Commission, had prohibited foreign investment in the Manus project and required the parties to unwind the acquisition; CCTV News framed the decision as blocking an irregular 'shower-style' overseas expansion. In July, Bloomberg reported that before the new round, Manus's founding team and existing investors Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund bought back all shares from Meta at a US$20 billion valuation; Tencent took over the stake previously held by Benchmark.

On October 8, 2026, 36Kr reported that Butterfly Effect had recently closed a new round of more than US$500 million, led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing shareholders Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund participating. 36Kr said the valuation and use of proceeds were not disclosed. IT之家 said the same day that Butterfly Effect announced the round, giving an exchange-rate equivalent of about RMB 3.356 billion. cnBeta reported the same more than US$500 million round, led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital with Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund continuing to back the company, and called it the largest single round raised by a China-based Agent-native startup; it put the yuan equivalent at about RMB 3.352 billion. IT之家 and cnBeta did not give a valuation or state how the funds would be used.