Manus Seeks $500 Million at $4 Billion Valuation After Meta Deal Collapse

Chinese AI startup Manus is in talks to raise about $500 million at a valuation of roughly $4 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, as the company rebuilds its business as an independent company after Beijing blocked a proposed $2 billion acquisition by Meta.

The fundraising discussions would give Manus a significantly higher valuation than the roughly $2 billion level reportedly used by early investors and backers to buy back shares as the startup separated itself from the U.S. social media giant.

Potential investors in the new round include IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology, alongside existing backers Tencent, HSG and Zhenfund, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Manus is also considering a corporate restructuring that could prepare the company for a potential initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to the report.

The fundraising effort marks a rapid change in the startup's trajectory. Manus became one of China's most closely watched AI startups after an AI agent demonstration went viral last year, drawing attention to its ability to perform tasks that traditionally required users to work across multiple software applications.

The company later moved its staff to Singapore in mid-2025 and agreed to a $2 billion acquisition by Meta in December.

At the time, Manus was reportedly generating more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, giving Meta a rapidly growing AI business and a team working on agentic software that could complement its broader artificial intelligence ambitions.

The deal ultimately became entangled in a much wider debate in China over the loss of AI researchers, engineers and technology companies to the West.

From Meta Acquisition to Independence

Beijing eventually blocked the transaction, citing potential violations involving export controls and foreign investment rules.

The intervention highlighted the complicated environment for Chinese AI companies with international operations and Western investors. A transaction that might ordinarily have been assessed primarily on its commercial value became linked to concerns about technology transfer, national interests and the movement of Chinese AI capabilities outside the country.

Manus has since been unwinding its relationship with Meta.

The company's early investors and backers reportedly helped facilitate a share buyback at a valuation of about $2 billion, allowing the startup to re-establish itself outside Meta's ownership.

In August, Manus told users that they would need to export and back up their own data because information generated after Meta's acquisition would have to be deleted to "comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions."

The company said this month that it had resumed independent operations and that its founding team would continue to lead the business. The potential $500 million financing would therefore represent more than a conventional growth round. It would provide capital for a company that has had to reconstruct its ownership structure and operating model after a major cross-border transaction collapsed.

It would also give Manus a substantially higher valuation if completed at the reported $4 billion level.

But that valuation is expected to depend heavily on Manus' ability to demonstrate that its early viral momentum has translated into durable revenue growth and a defensible position in the increasingly crowded AI-agent market.

Manus Targets the Agentic AI Market

Manus operates in a segment of AI that has attracted significant investment as companies move beyond conventional chatbots toward systems capable of completing multi-step tasks.

Its products include a chatbot and AI-powered coding tools that allow users to build applications and websites, create designs and presentations, generate video, and interact with the web through a browser assistant.

The company's offerings overlap with products being developed by OpenAI and software-focused AI companies such as Lovable and Replit. That puts Manus in a market where the underlying technology is advancing quickly, but competitive barriers remain difficult to establish.

AI agents are now being positioned as interfaces through which users can delegate tasks rather than simply ask questions. The commercial opportunity is potentially large, but companies must still demonstrate that agents can complete tasks reliably enough for users to trust them with more consequential work.

Manus' reported revenue trajectory suggests it had already established meaningful commercial demand before the Meta transaction. The challenge now is to convert that momentum into an independent business while competing against much larger AI companies with significantly greater access to computing resources and capital.

The reported Hong Kong IPO preparations add another dimension.

A listing in Hong Kong could provide Manus with access to public-market capital while keeping its corporate future more closely tied to China's financial system. It would also allow investors to assess the economics of an AI-agent company whose ownership and international operations have already been shaped by geopolitical restrictions.

The potential IPO is not yet a commitment, and neither the reported funding round nor the restructuring appears to have been finalized.

Still, the sequence of events underpins how China's AI industry is increasingly being shaped by forces beyond product development. Manus went from a viral AI startup to a proposed acquisition target for Meta, then became caught in China's effort to retain control over strategic technology and talent, and is now attempting to establish itself as an independent company again.

If the reported financing proceeds at $4 billion, Manus would be asking investors to value the company not on the failed Meta transaction, but on its prospects as an independent AI-agent platform. That makes the next stage especially important. The company must show that its technology can generate recurring demand, that its products can compete as AI agents become increasingly commoditized, and that its corporate structure can navigate the regulatory constraints that helped derail its previous path.