Meta Platforms announced Tuesday its acquisition of Manus, a Singapore-based developer of advanced AI agents, signaling a significant escalation of its already substantial investments in artificial intelligence. This move underscores Meta’s strategic focus on integrating cutting-edge AI capabilities across its extensive portfolio of consumer and enterprise products, including its Meta AI assistant.
Manus, which originated in China before establishing its headquarters in Singapore, unveiled its foundational general AI agent earlier this year. This agent is engineered to perform a wide array of complex tasks, encompassing market research, software development, and intricate data analysis. The company reported impressive early traction, claiming to have achieved an annualized average revenue of over $100 million within just eight months of its launch, with its revenue run rate surpassing $125 million.
In a statement, Meta highlighted that the acquisition aims to accelerate AI innovation specifically for businesses and to embed sophisticated automation solutions into its offerings. “Manus is already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses worldwide,” Meta stated, expressing plans to “scale this service to many more businesses.” The terms of the acquisition were not publicly disclosed, but Meta confirmed that Manus will continue to operate its existing subscription services without interruption.
The genesis of Manus lies within the Chinese startup ecosystem, initially emerging as a product of Butterfly Effect, also known as Monica.Im, before evolving into a distinct entity. The company gained prominence in the AI landscape this year, asserting that its AI agent demonstrated superior performance compared to OpenAI’s DeepResearch. Manus had previously secured $75 million in Series B funding, led by U.S. venture firm Benchmark, with support from prominent investors such as Tencent and HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia). Reports indicated that Manus had strategically shifted its operations, laying off staff in Beijing in July and relocating its headquarters to Singapore in June to bolster its global expansion efforts.
Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, expressed enthusiasm about the integration, stating, “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made.” This move also follows a strategic partnership Manus established with Alibaba’s Qwen AI team in March, underscoring its existing connections within the Chinese tech sector.
Meta’s aggressive pursuit of AI talent and technology through acquisitions is a clear indicator of its strategic priorities. The company has been actively acquiring specialized AI startups to expedite the development of its AI business, including its foundational Llama large language models. This acquisition follows Meta’s substantial $14.3 billion investment in AI startup Scale AI in June, which also saw Scale AI’s founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, join Meta’s AI leadership team. Earlier this month, Meta also acquired AI-wearables startup Limitless, reinforcing its commitment to expanding its AI-driven device business.
Manus’s AI agent tools have garnered significant attention, even attracting the interest of Microsoft. In October, Microsoft began testing Manus within Windows 11 PCs, enabling users to perform tasks such as creating websites directly from local files. To date, Manus reports having processed over 147 trillion tokens of text and data, supporting more than 80 million virtual computers through its tiered subscription service, which includes both free and paid options. Meta intends to integrate Manus employees into its existing teams, a continuation of its strategy to actively recruit top AI talent from both startups and established industry giants like OpenAI and Google.
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