China's Manus AI seeks $4B valuation in new $500M funding round
Chinese AI startup Manus, having resumed independent operations after Beijing blocked its planned $2B merger with Meta, is now in talks to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus, which earlier this year had to abandon a planned merger with Meta, is reportedly in discussions to raise $500 million in a new funding round that would value the company at $4 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported the development, citing anonymous sources.
Potential participants in the round include IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology, alongside existing investors Tencent, HSG and Zhenfund. The company is also said to be weighing a corporate restructuring to lay the groundwork for a possible initial public offering in Hong Kong.
The Meta episode
Manus drew widespread attention last year after a viral demonstration of its AI agent. In mid-2025 the company relocated its staff to Singapore, and by December of that year it had announced a $2 billion acquisition agreement with Meta. At the time, Manus was reportedly generating annual recurring revenue exceeding $100 million.
However, Beijing blocked the deal, citing concerns over potential violations of export controls and foreign investment rules, amid broader Chinese anxiety about losing AI talent and researchers to Western companies. Since then, Manus has been working to disentangle itself from the American social media giant, with its early backers reportedly helping the company buy back shares at a valuation of roughly $2 billion.
As part of that separation, the company told users in August that they would need to export and back up their own data, since Manus had to delete data generated after Meta's acquisition in order to comply with regulatory requirements in certain jurisdictions.
This month, Manus announced it had resumed independent operations, with its founding team continuing to lead the company. Manus offers AI products broadly comparable to those of OpenAI, Lovable and Replit, including a chatbot and vibe-coding tools for building apps, websites, presentations and video, along with a browser assistant. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
