Chinese AI startup Manus is pitching investors on a $500 million round that would value the company at $4 billion, months after Beijing scuttled its $2 billion sale to Meta and forced a messy unwind. The Wall Street Journal reported the talks on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The valuation reset
The proposed price tag represents a doubling from the roughly $2 billion valuation at which early backers helped the company repurchase its own shares during the separation from Meta. At the time of the announced acquisition in December 2024, Manus was generating more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
Investor lineup takes shape
Potential participants in the new financing include IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, alongside existing shareholders Tencent, HSG and Zhenfund. The company has not commented on the fundraising.
The Meta unwind
Manus relocated its team to Singapore in mid-2025 before agreeing to the Meta deal. Chinese regulators blocked the transaction, citing export-control and foreign-investment concerns. Since then, the startup has been deleting data created after the acquisition announcement to satisfy jurisdictional requirements, instructing users in August to export and back up their own information. This month it confirmed that independent operations have resumed under the founding team.
IPO horizon
The Journal also reported that Manus is weighing a restructuring to prepare for a Hong Kong listing. Its product suite, chatbot, browser assistant and vibe-coding tools for building apps, sites and presentations, competes directly with offerings from OpenAI, Lovable and Replit.