TL;DR
- Buyback Talks: Manus founders are reportedly exploring about $1 billion to retake control as the Meta unwind moves ahead.
- Deal Terms: The money may need to fund a repricing or partial buyback instead of a routine growth round.
- Funding Deadline: Investors still need terms on funding, ownership, and the timetable for separating Manus from Meta.
Manus co-founders appear to be weighing about $1 billion in new capital from outside investors to regain control of the startup. After China blocked the Meta deal in April 2026, the money would reopen a sale that had already closed and turn it into an attempted buyback.
No confirmed investor list, final price, or closing timetable has surfaced. Beijing’s unwind order has turned a completed AI takeover into a financing problem, because the founders are now trying to reverse an ownership transfer rather than raise ordinary growth capital. No public filing or company statement has yet set out the backers, the purchase price, or the closing mechanics for that reversal.
Regulatory pressure also reaches beyond one company. Manus is trying to reverse a cross-border AI deal after Meta had taken control, extending pressure that made it harder for Chinese AI startups to raise capital from overseas investors and forcing investors to price both execution risk and regulatory risk.
Why the Financing Talks Matter Now
Regaining ownership means any new capital would have to do more than keep Manus operating. Any financing package would also have to unwind a transaction the companies had been racing to reverse within weeks rather than months, making the fundraise part of the separation itself rather than a routine post-deal cash infusion. Because the assets were already being integrated, the reversal also has to address personnel moves, technology control, and ownership terms alongside price.
A partial buyback or a repricing may be needed against Meta’s original purchase terms. Meta also appears to be preparing for the unwind under a regulator-set deadline of weeks rather than months, leaving limited time to settle who funds the reversal, how the assets are valued, and what ownership split Manus and Meta would accept.
Personal capital from some founders may also be part of the structure if the buyback goes ahead. New investors would then be assessing a company that still needs a workable valuation, a regulator-proof ownership map, and a credible plan to take back control after the blocked acquisition. Neither Manus nor Meta had publicly detailed the proposed financing structure or offered an on-record explanation of how the reversal would be funded.
How China Turned the Deal Around
Meta aggreed to pay more than $2 billion for Manus in December 2025. January 2026 then brought a Chinese export-control probe, pushing the acquisition into a wider national-security review. March 2026 added exit bans on Manus executives and reported meetings with officials.
Beijing had already blocked the Meta deal by late April 2026, turning what had looked like a completed purchase into an unwind that still had to be priced, financed, and executed. National security concerns around AI technology and personnel transfers were cited around the reversal. By then, roughly 100 Manus employees had already moved into Meta’s Singapore offices, so any unwind would have to separate staff, reporting lines, and product plans rather than simply cancel a term sheet.
Business Position and Next Steps
Manus reportedly has reached a reported $100 million ARR run-rate within eight months of launching its general-purpose AI agent. Roughly 100 employees were included in the deal. That operating scale raises the cost of any messy separation, because new backers would be financing an active AI business rather than a shell waiting for ownership to be reassigned.
In 2025, Manus also relocated to Singapore and cut much of its Chinese workforce, yet that earlier move did not shield it once regulators challenged the takeover. A revised structure now has to solve for jurisdiction, staffing, and political control at once. Before the NDRC’s deadline window closes, Manus or Meta need to disclose who would fund the buyback financing and what ownership split would replace the April 2026 unwind.