Chinese general AI agent developer Manus has reportedly laid off part of its workforce in China and shifted key technical employees to its Singapore headquarters. The company’s China operations currently includes around 120 staff.
Why it matters: The move underscores how emerging AI startups from China are increasingly relocating core operations overseas, amid a push for international markets and potential regulatory uncertainties at home. Manus has quickly become one of China’s most talked-about generative AI agent players, yet faces skepticism over its product depth and long-term monetization.
Details：On Tuesday night, Manus responded to Chinese media outlet The Paper, saying it had adjusted certain business teams to improve operational efficiency, and would continue to focus on developing its core business. In June, Manus’s head of product Zhang Tao publicly confirmed that the company had already moved its headquarters from China to Singapore.
Context：Manus was launched this March by the Monica team, branding itself as the world’s first general-purpose AI agent capable of independently planning and executing complex tasks across areas like report writing, spreadsheet creation, resume screening, stock analysis, and travel planning. The product initially opened via invitation-only beta, with invite codes speculatively priced at over RMB 10,000 ($ 1,394), sparking accusations of hype-driven marketing.
- Manus’s parent, Butterfly Effect PTE. LTD., was incorporated in Singapore in August 2023. Founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao, both born in the 1990s, have backgrounds in software engineering and previously launched projects like the Monica AI browser plugin and the Rasgueado input method.
- In May, Bloomberg reported that Butterfly Effect, the Manus’s parent company, had raised $75 million in a round led by US venture capital firm Benchmark, valuing the company at $500 million. However, the investment is currently under review by the US Treasury Department.
- Since its surge in popularity, Manus has moved quickly on business partnerships and monetization. In March, it announced a strategic collaboration with Alibaba’s Qwen team to build Manus functionalities atop Tongyi’s open-source models. The same month, Manus rolled out paid plans. By June, it added text-to-video features.
It’s also notable that in May, reports surfaced claiming Manus’s parent company was seeking to raise $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Manus denied the report, calling it “severely inaccurate,” and stated it was focusing on product development and user experience.
