Meta to buy Chinese startup Manus in deal worth ‘$2- $3 billion’ to boost advanced AI
Meta said on Monday it will acquire China-based artificial intelligence startup Manus as the tech giant accelerates efforts to integrate advanced artificial intelligence into its platforms.
Financial terms of the transaction with Manus were not disclosed, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the deal values the Singapore-based firm at between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Manus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Once hailed as China’s next DeepSeek, Manus went viral earlier this year when it launched at X what it claims is the world’s first general AI agent, capable of making decisions and executing tasks autonomously with far less guidance than AI chatbots.
Beijing has since shown interest in backing Manus, which claims the AI agent’s performance surpasses OpenAI’s DeepResearch. The company also has a strategic partnership with Alibaba to collaborate on AI models.
The company said it will operate and sell Meta’s Manus service and integrate it into consumer and business products, including Meta AI.
Tech giants like Meta are increasing their AI investments through strategic acquisitions and talent hiring as they battle tough industry competition. Earlier this year, the Facebook owner invested in Scale AI in a deal that valued the data labeling startup at $29 billion and hired its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang.
Manus, backed by its parent company Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology, raised $75 million this year at a valuation of about $500 million, according to media reports. US startup Benchmark led the financing round.
The company, which is among the Chinese firms to take up residence in Singapore in recent years, claims that the move to the trade-focused city-state will reduce the risk of its operations being disrupted by Sino-US geopolitical tensions.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru, Kane Wu in Hong Kong, Xinghui Kok in Singapore; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Miyoung Kim and Sam Holmes)
