Manus, the Chinese AI agent startup that lost a $2 billion sale to Meta earlier this year, is now shopping a $500 million round at a $4 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch AI, which cited a Wall Street Journal report based on anonymous sources. The company resumed independent operations this month with its founding team still in charge. It’s also reportedly weighing a restructuring to set up a Hong Kong IPO.
That’s a remarkable turnaround. Nine months ago, Manus was on its way to becoming a Meta subsidiary. Now it’s asking investors to pay double what Meta offered.
The Short Version
- Manus is in talks to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, per the Journal via TechCrunch AI
- Potential new investors include IDG Capital, Boyu Capital, and battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL)
- Existing backers Tencent, HSG, and ZhenFund are reportedly participating
- A Hong Kong IPO is on the table, pending a corporate restructuring
- The company was said to be doing over $100 million in annual recurring revenue when the Meta deal was announced
How We Got Here
Manus went viral in 2025 after demoing its autonomous AI agent, then moved its staff to Singapore in mid-2025. That December, Meta agreed to buy the company for about $2 billion, as detailed in TechCrunch AI.
Beijing blocked the deal. Regulators cited possible violations of export controls and foreign investment rules, but the bigger backdrop was China’s growing anxiety about losing AI talent and research to the West. Manus became the test case.
The unwinding got messy. Early investors reportedly helped the company buy back its shares at roughly a $2 billion valuation. In August, Manus told users to export and back up their own data because it had to delete everything generated after Meta’s acquisition to “comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions.” That’s a rough thing to tell paying customers, and it’s the kind of scar that shows up in churn numbers later.
Why This Matters
The valuation jump is the story. Manus went from a $2 billion buyback to a $4 billion ask in a matter of months, and the product hasn’t fundamentally changed. What changed is the narrative: this is now a Chinese AI champion that Beijing protected, and Chinese capital is lining up behind it.
Look at the investor list. CATL isn’t a typical AI backer. Boyu Capital and IDG Capital are deeply connected to Chinese institutional money. A Hong Kong listing keeps everything inside a jurisdiction Beijing controls. This is a company being deliberately re-anchored to China after it tried to leave.
What stands out here is the precedent. Any Chinese AI startup that relocates abroad and courts a Western acquirer now knows the playbook can get shut down. Singapore didn’t shield Manus. That will change how founders in Shenzhen and Hangzhou think about structuring their companies from day one.
What Manus Actually Sells
Strip away the geopolitics and Manus competes in a crowded lane. Its lineup looks a lot like what OpenAI, Lovable, and Replit offer:
- A general-purpose chatbot
- Vibe-coding tools for building apps and websites from prompts
- Design and presentation generation
- Video generation
None of that is unique. The $100 million ARR figure, if accurate, is impressive for a company this young, but it was reported before the Meta breakup and the forced data deletion. Investors paying $4 billion are betting the user base survived that disruption.
What to Watch
- Whether the round closes at the $4 billion figure or gets negotiated down
- Current revenue numbers, which nobody has disclosed since the split
- Timing of the Hong Kong IPO filing, which would force real financial disclosure
- How Meta accounts for the failed deal and whether any IP or talent stayed behind
Manus didn’t respond to TechCrunch AI’s request for comment. If the round closes as reported, it’ll be the clearest signal yet that Chinese AI startups have a well-funded domestic exit path that doesn’t run through Silicon Valley. More details are in the original TechCrunch AI report.