Meta acquires AI startup Manus to accelerate agent-based automation strategy

Meta Platforms has agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based developer of general-purpose artificial intelligence agents, marking another major step in the social media company’s aggressive push to build a large-scale AI business.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Manus, which launched its first AI agent earlier this year, sells subscription-based tools that can autonomously perform tasks such as market research, coding, data analysis, resume screening, and website creation.

Meta said the acquisition will help accelerate AI innovation for businesses and integrate advanced automation into its consumer and enterprise products, including its Meta AI assistant.

The companies said Manus will continue to operate its existing subscription service without disruption, while its employees will join Meta’s AI teams.

Rapid growth and global repositioning

Founded in China as part of the startup Butterfly Effect, also known as Monica.Im, Manus later spun out into a separate entity and relocated its headquarters to Singapore as it pursued global expansion.

The company reportedly laid off most of its Beijing-based staff earlier this year before shifting to Singapore.

Manus has drawn attention in the AI industry for the speed of its commercial growth.

The startup said it achieved more than $100 million in annualized average revenue just eight months after launch, with a revenue run rate exceeding $125 million earlier this year.

The firm has raised significant venture capital backing.

In April, it secured $75 million in a Series B funding round led by US venture capital firm Benchmark, at a valuation reportedly close to $500 million.

Manus is also backed by Tencent and HongShan Capital Group, formerly known as Sequoia China.

Earlier this year, Manus gained visibility after claiming its chatbot outperformed OpenAI’s DeepResearch on certain benchmarks.

The company also announced a strategic partnership with Alibaba’s Qwen AI team in March, underscoring its ongoing ties to Chinese technology firms.

Strategic fit within Meta’s AI push

Meta said the acquisition aligns with its strategy of acquiring specialized AI startups to gain talent and products that can be scaled across its ecosystem.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has made AI the company’s top priority, committing tens of billions of dollars toward hiring researchers, building data centers, and developing new models, including its open-source Llama large language models.

In recent months, Meta has made several high-profile AI moves.

In June, it invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a deal that brought Scale founder Alexandr Wang onto Meta’s leadership team as chief AI officer.

Meta also acquired AI wearables startup Limitless as it expands into AI-enabled devices.

Manus’s technology had attracted interest from major technology companies.

Microsoft began testing Manus on Windows 11 PCs in October, allowing users to create websites from local files.

Manus claims to have processed more than 147 trillion tokens of text and data and supported over 80 million virtual computers.

Market implications and investor scrutiny

The acquisition comes as Meta faces investor scrutiny over whether its heavy AI spending will generate meaningful near-term returns.

Unlike many consumer-focused AI tools offered for free, Manus sells enterprise subscriptions, potentially providing Meta with a more immediate revenue stream.

AI agents have become a focal point for enterprise software companies, including Salesforce and ServiceNow, which are promoting autonomous agents as a more practical business application of AI than traditional chatbots.

The deal has also revived debate around US investment in AI startups with Chinese roots.

Earlier this year, Benchmark faced criticism from US lawmakers over its backing of Manus.

For Manus, the acquisition offers scale. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said co-founder and CEO Xiao Hong.

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