One of the year's largest financings in the AI agent space has arrived: Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Manus, announced a new round of more than $500 million, led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing investors Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund increasing their stakes.
Point 1: Backing for a star company. Butterfly Effect was founded in 2022 and in March 2025 released Manus, billed as the world's first general-purpose AI agent, which at one point set off the whole agent sector. The size of this round, above $500 million, and the continued backing of top-tier investors show that capital still believes in the long-term value of general-purpose agents.
Point 2: The product pace is accelerating. On September 28, Manus launched version 2.0 for overseas users, along with Cue, an intelligent assistant for personal-life scenarios. The company also said it is building a team to develop products for the domestic market, and that cooperation with Chinese model makers and ecosystem partners is progressing steadily.
Point 3: The sector's momentum shows no sign of fading. By size, this is one of the largest AI agent rounds this year. As model capabilities converge, agent products that can actually be deployed are becoming the new focus of investor bets.
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