Manus, a startup specializing in AI agents, has secured over $500 million in a new funding round. The investment was led by Boyu Capital, with participation from Tencent Holdings Ltd. and other investors. This financing reportedly values the company at $4 billion, which is double the amount Meta Platforms Inc. previously offered for an acquisition.
The company was founded in 2022 as Butterfly Effect Co. Ltd. and initially focused on a browser extension for AI models. Following a failed acquisition attempt by Meta, which was blocked by Chinese regulators in April, Manus relocated its headquarters to Singapore. In April 2025, the firm raised $75 million from the venture capital firm Benchmark.
The company recently released Manus 2.0, a major update featuring software modules that customize LLM behavior. This version reportedly reduces token usage by 23.2% and increases processing speed by over 28%. New tools include a video and game generator, a cloud environment for hosting backend code, and Cue, which allows agents to access email and digital wallets.
The competitive landscape for AI agents remains active, as evidenced by Nous Research Inc. raising $90 million just one day prior to the Manus announcement. Meanwhile, Meta has shifted its focus to internal development, launching an app called Muse that has gained significant traction on the U.S. App Store.
