Manus is an AI agent maker run by Butterfly Effect, which moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2025 with offices in San Francisco and Tokyo. Xiao Hong is founder and CEO of Butterfly Effect, which he founded in 2022 and where he created the browser extension Monica; Manus was co-founded with Ji Yichao and Zhang Tao. It makes agents and vibe-coding tools comparable to those from Cursor, Lovable and Replit.
Meta announced a $2 billion acquisition of Manus in December 2025, but Chinese authorities ordered the deal unwound in April 2026. Manus resumed independent operations in August, and on October 8, 2026 announced it had raised more than $500 million in a round led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund participating. It recently launched Manus 2.0 and Cue, and is reportedly considering a Hong Kong IPO.