Moving to Singapore Did Not Move the Review; Manus Returns at Twice the Price

Asking twice the buyback price

TechCrunch reported on September 18, citing The Wall Street Journal, that Manus is in discussions to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation. Prospective investors include IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and the battery maker CATL, with existing backers Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund also named. The company is said to be considering a restructuring to prepare for an IPO in Hong Kong. TipRanks, citing Bloomberg, reported that the valuation would double from $2 billion.

Two billion dollars appears twice in this story. It was the price Meta announced in December 2025 when it agreed to acquire Manus, and it was roughly the valuation at which early investors helped the company buy its shares back after the deal was unwound. Caixin reported that Tencent, ZhenFund and HSG bought the shares back from Meta and that Tencent is poised to become the largest shareholder. The same report put annual recurring revenue at $400 million by late June, up from $100 million in December. TechCrunch also noted that ARR was over $100 million when the Meta deal was announced.

The review still happened in Beijing after the move to Singapore

According to CNBC, Manus was founded in China in 2022 before relocating to Singapore, and TechCrunch dates the staff move to mid-2025. The Meta acquisition was announced that December and drew scrutiny in both Beijing and Washington. Chinese officials investigated whether the deal violated the country's foreign investment rules, and in April the National Development and Reform Commission instructed the parties to withdraw the transaction. TechCrunch reported that potential violations of export controls and foreign investment rules were cited.

The Bloomberg report carried by TipRanks described two concerns on the regulators' side: that Manus had not notified them before signing, and that the deal could set a precedent for Chinese AI startups losing technology to US rivals. CNBC reported that Beijing has since tightened tech export controls on cross-border deals. The contract was signed after the headquarters and staff had moved, and the rules of the founding country still stopped it.

Unwinding cost more than the equity

Separating from Meta was not a paperwork exercise. CNBC reported that on August 11, when Manus said it would soon resume operating as an independent company, it told some users to back up data generated on or after December 29, 2025, the date the Meta deal was announced. The company wrote that it had to take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world as part of its separation from Meta. TechCrunch reported that the company had to delete data generated after the acquisition.

Where the data lives also changed. Caixin reported that Manus data is now stored in the United States and Singapore. The user data accumulated in the four months between the announcement and the unwinding became a cost of the separation. When an acquisition is reversed, buying back the shares is not the end; the product and data that were merged in the meantime have to be pulled apart. Manus said this month it has resumed independent operations and that its founding team will continue to lead it.

Where a company worth twice as much cannot sell

While the valuation doubled, the exits narrowed. The sale to an American company was blocked by the founding country's review, and a Hong Kong listing took its place. Put the $400 million ARR Caixin reported for late June next to the $4 billion in this round and the multiple is 10x. Miro, profitable and holding net cash, sold for 2.3x ARR; against that, this multiple prices the exits that remain more than the company's profitability.

The investor list points the same way. IDG Capital, Boyu Capital and CATL, the new names, are all Chinese capital, as are the three existing backers. If the company's next stop is Hong Kong, the cap table is already lined up for that road.

What to check next is whether the $500 million actually arrives and, if it does, into which entity. Once the restructuring for a Hong Kong listing begins, where that entity is domiciled will be the first thing to show.