Manus spent the spring unwinding a $2B sale to Meta that Beijing refused to allow. By August the agent startup had told users to export their own data, because it had to delete material created after the acquisition.
Now it is raising again. Manus is in discussions for $500M at a $4B valuation, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The prospective cap table mixes newcomers and existing backers. IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology are in the talks, alongside Tencent, HSG and Zhenfund, which already hold stakes.
A restructuring aimed at a Hong Kong listing is also under consideration.
Its staff had moved to Singapore by the summer of 2025. The Meta agreement came in December, and press reports at the time put annual recurring revenue above $100M.
Chinese regulators blocked the combination over potential export control and foreign investment violations, as anxiety grew in Beijing about AI talent leaving for the West. Early investors helped buy the shares back at a valuation near $2B.
What $4B buys today is a crowded position. Manus sells a chatbot and vibe-coding tools for apps, sites, designs, presentations and video, plus a browser assistant, directly against OpenAI, Lovable and Replit.
