China's Manus AI Emerges as White-Collar Taskmaster Within just a week of its March launch, Manus had already amassed a waitlist of two million users
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A new AI platform named Manus is turning heads in the global tech community for its ability to handle tasks traditionally performed by white-collar professionals. Developed by Beijing-based startup Butterfly Effect, Manus AI has moved beyond its invite-only model, opening to the public after a successful funding round and rapid user adoption.
Within just a week of its March launch, Manus had already amassed a waitlist of two million users. The platform, now offering 1,000 free credits for new users and 300 credits daily for free accounts, aims to rapidly expand its user base in an increasingly competitive AI market.
Manus is designed as an agentic AI model—capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting independently, built using Anthropic's Claude and Alibaba's Qwen models. It can perform tasks such as trip planning, overseas relocation research, and financial statement analysis within seconds. With integration capabilities across various applications, Manus can also automate emails, provide customer support, offer voice recognition, generate content, and deliver personalised recommendations.
The platform's momentum was further bolstered by a USD 75 million funding round led by US-based Benchmark Capital, valuing Butterfly Effect at USD 500 million. This positions the company among China's most promising AI startups since the emergence of DeepSeek AI.
In a move that underscores its ambitions, Butterfly Effect has also entered a strategic collaboration with Alibaba Cloud to develop general-purpose AI solutions, setting the stage for Manus to become a key player in the global AI race.
