# News: Manus parent Butterfly Effect raises over $500 million in first round since the Meta deal collapsed

> Butterfly Effect, the Chinese company behind the Manus agent, said on Thursday 8 October 2026 that it has raised more than $500 million, its first round since Meta was forced to call off a $2 billion acquisition. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led, with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund participating; Manus disclosed no valuation, after September reports of talks at around $4 billion. Manus sells a general agent plus vibe-coding tools that build apps, websites, designs, presentations and video, in the market segment that includes Cursor, Lovable and Replit.

Human page: https://testedactually.com/news/manus-500m-round/
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Published: 2026-10-09

## What changed

Butterfly Effect, the Chinese company behind the Manus agent, said on Thursday 8 October 2026 that it has raised more than $500 million, its first round since Meta was forced to call off a $2 billion acquisition. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led, with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund participating; Manus disclosed no valuation, after September reports of talks at around $4 billion. Manus sells a general agent plus vibe-coding tools that build apps, websites, designs, presentations and video, in the market segment that includes Cursor, Lovable and Replit.

## What it means for buyers

General agent builders keep attracting nine-figure rounds, and an independent, well-funded Chinese entrant stays in the market our ai-agent-builders comparison tracks, competing with invite-gated consumer agents such as Instinct and Meta's Muse on both capability and price. For buyers the immediate point is continuity: the company that looked acquisition-bound in September is funding for independent operation, so evaluating Manus as a platform no longer reads as a bet on a pending Meta integration.

## Sources

- [1] TechCrunch: China's Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta - https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/08/chinas-manus-raises-over-500m-in-first-funding-round-since-split-with-meta/ (round confirmation: leads, participants, collapsed Meta deal context, checked 2026-10-09)
- [2] Butterfly Effect announcement via WeChat - https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/cmjfJ40G8ZSr9vyPLLy37g (company's own funding announcement, as linked by TechCrunch)

TestedActually tracks pricing and programme changes as dated, sourced events: https://testedactually.com/news/.