Meta moves to acquire fast-growing AI agent startup
Meta Platforms is set to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup that has quickly gained attention in Silicon Valley since its public debut last spring. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the deal values Manus at roughly $2 billion, matching the valuation it had reportedly been targeting for its next funding round.
Manus first went viral after releasing a demo video showing its AI agent handling complex, multi-step tasks such as screening job candidates, planning travel, and analysing stock portfolios. The company claimed at the time that its system outperformed OpenAI’s Deep Research, giving it an early reputation as a serious challenger in the AI agents space.
For Meta, the acquisition adds a ready-made AI product with real users and real revenue to its portfolio, at a time when big tech firms are racing to ship practical AI assistants across everyday apps.
Manus’ rapid rise to a $2 billion exit
Manus has grown at remarkable speed. In April 2025, just weeks after launch, venture capital firm Benchmark led a $75 million funding round that valued the company at $500 million post-money. As part of the deal, Benchmark general partner Chetan Puttagunta joined the startup’s board.
Chinese media later reported that Manus had already raised $10 million in an earlier round from investors including Tencent, ZhenFund, and HSG, formerly known as Sequoia China. These backers helped the company scale its product and expand its user base quickly.
Manus recently disclosed that it has signed up millions of users and crossed more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, an impressive milestone for a relatively young AI startup. That traction made it an attractive target for larger tech platforms looking to strengthen their AI offerings.
Why the deal matters for Meta’s AI ambitions
According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta agreed to pay $2 billion for Manus, effectively buying a high-growth AI agent business instead of building a similar product entirely in-house. For Mark Zuckerberg, the acquisition delivers an AI system that is already in the market and generating significant revenue.
The move comes at a time when investors have become more cautious about Meta’s heavy AI-related spending, including reports of around $60 billion being poured into infrastructure and data centres across the industry. By acquiring Manus, Meta can point to a concrete AI product with paying customers, rather than only long-term research bets.
Meta has said it plans to keep Manus operating independently while integrating its AI agents across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, where the company’s own assistant, Meta AI, is already being rolled out. Over time, Manus’ technology could power smarter in-app agents for tasks like customer support, recommendations and productivity tools.
Political concerns over Chinese backing
One sensitive aspect of the deal is Manus’ background. The startup’s Chinese founders created its parent company, Butterfly Effect, in Beijing in 2022 before relocating operations to Singapore in mid-2025. This history has already drawn political attention in Washington.
US Senator John Cornyn, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, previously criticised Benchmark’s investment in Manus, raising concerns about American capital flowing into China-linked technology firms. Cornyn has long taken a hawkish stance on China, and such views have found growing bipartisan support in the US Congress.
In response, Meta told Nikkei Asia that once the acquisition is completed, Manus will sever all ties with Chinese investors and halt operations in China. According to a Meta spokesperson, there will be no continuing Chinese ownership in Manus, and the startup will discontinue its services inside the country.
These assurances appear designed to reduce regulatory and political risk as Meta moves forward with the purchase.
What the Manus deal signals for the AI race
The planned acquisition of Manus underlines how competitive the global AI race has become. Instead of relying only on internal research labs, big tech platforms are increasingly willing to buy specialised startups that have proven products, users and revenue.
For Meta, adding Manus’ agent technology could help it keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in the fast-moving market for AI assistants that can handle complex, multi-step tasks. For Manus, joining Meta offers access to billions of users and vast computing resources that can help scale its technology much faster.
At the same time, the deal highlights how questions around national security, data protection and foreign ownership continue to shape the future of AI. As governments and regulators pay closer attention, large acquisitions in this space are likely to come under increasing scrutiny—even when they involve fast-growing, highly valued startups.
