Manus AI is likely one of the hottest AI agent startups round, recently raising $75 million at a half-billion-dollar valuation in a spherical led by Benchmark.
However two unnamed sources told Semafor that the funding is now beneath evaluate by the U.S. Treasury Division over its compliance with 2023 restrictions on investing in Chinese language corporations.
Benchmark’s legal professionals cleared the funding as a result of Manus isn’t technically creating its personal AI fashions, however is as an alternative a “wrapper” round current ones, Semafor reported.
These legal professionals additionally concluded Manus just isn’t China-based because it’s included within the Cayman Islands. (That’s a standard construction utilized by Chinese language corporations, like Alibaba, to entry international capital.)
Benchmark has attracted criticism for its Manus funding from Founders Fund associate Delian Asparouhov, who posted on X “wow, actions have penalties?”.
Benchmark, Manus, and Treasury didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
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