Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus AI, developed by Beijing-based Butterfly Effect, has raised $75 million in a funding round led by US venture capital firm Benchmark, bringing its valuation to approximately $500 million, according to sources including Bloomberg and TechCrunch. This latest round quintuples Manus AI's previous valuation, which followed a $10 million raise from investors such as Tencent and HSG (formerly Sequoia China). The company plans to use the new capital to expand into markets including the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. Manus AI focuses on building AI agent tools to automate everyday tasks and launched a demo of its general AI agent in March. The company has introduced paid subscription plans for its service, with prices ranging from $39 to $199 per month. The technology leverages large language models, reportedly Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Claude 3.7 Sonnet, to perform complex multi-step tasks by interacting with third-party applications. Manus AI competes with similar automation offerings, such as OpenAI's Operator.