Meta is acquiring the AI startup Manus, as the owner of Facebook and Instagram continues to actively advance its artificial intelligence offerings across its platforms.
The California technology giant declined to disclose the financial details of the purchase. However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta struck a deal for over $2 billion.
Manus, a Singaporean platform with some Chinese origins, launched its initial “generalist” AI agent earlier this year. The platform offers paid subscriptions for customers to utilize this technology for research, programming, and other tasks.
“Manus already serves the daily needs of millions of users and businesses globally,” Meta stated in a Monday release, adding that it plans to scale this service—as Manus will “deliver generalist agents across our consumer and business products, including Meta AI.”
Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, added that joining Meta will allow the platform to “build a more solid and sustainable foundation without altering the way Manus operates and makes decisions.” Manus confirmed it will keep selling and managing subscriptions through its own application and website.
The platform has expanded rapidly over the past year. Earlier this month, Manus announced it surpassed the $100 million mark in annual recurring revenue, just eight months after launch.
Some of Manus’s initial financial backers reportedly included China’s Tencent Holdings, ZhenFund, and HSG. And the firm that first launched the platform—Butterfly Effect, which also operates under the name monica.im—was established in China before relocating to Singapore.
A Meta representative confirmed on Tuesday that following the transaction, “there will be no continuing Chinese ownership stakes in Manus AI,” and the platform will also cease its services and operations in China. Manus reiterated that it will continue functioning in Singapore, where the majority of its personnel are based.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pressing forward with a revival of commercial AI efforts as the company faces significant rivalry from competitors such as Google and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. In June, the firm invested $14.3 billion in the AI data processing company Scale and invited its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to help lead the “superintelligence” development team at the tech giant.
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