Meta has announced the acquisition of Manus AI, a Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup, marking one of its most significant strategic moves yet in the global race for advanced AI capabilities.
While the company did not disclose financial terms, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said the transaction values Manus between $2 billion and $3 billion.
The acquisition underscores Meta’s push to embed more advanced AI systems across its consumer and enterprise products at a time when global technology giants are accelerating investments to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive landscape.
Force Behind Manus AI
Behind Manus is a founding team that blends entrepreneurial experience with deep technical and product expertise. The company was co-founded by Xiao Hong, also known as Red, who serves as Chief Executive Officer and has previously built consumer-facing AI products, including the popular browser extension Monica. Yichao “Peak” Ji, the co-founder and chief scientist, leads Manus’s technical direction and is known for developing the Mammoth Browser at a young age, while Tao Zhang, a product partner and co-founder, brings years of global product leadership experience, including a senior role at ByteDance.
Originally a Chinese-incorporated company called Butterfly Effect Technology, it set up shop in Singapore after a broader shift by several Chinese-founded AI companies that aim for global operational flexibility. Under the Manus brand, the startup drew attention for its general AI agent-performing tasks autonomously such as web research, data analysis, and code execution. All these capabilities cast Manus as the strategic acquisition target for Meta when it announced the takeover in December 2025 to expand agentic AI across platforms like Meta AI.
Why Manus Matters to Meta?
Manus, which was founded in China and has its headquarters in Singapore, came into the limelight earlier this year with the launch of what it called the world’s first general AI agent. This agent is capable of making its own decisions and performing its own tasks with minimal instruction. This move was enough to get Manus trending on the X social media platform.
Manus was also being talked about with regards to becoming an existing substitute or an alternative to the existing leading player within the global AI community, as the technology has the potential to beat existing research tools when it comes to advanced tasks. The tech has also garnered attention within the context of AI strategic policy implications, at least within the government of China.
Meta was able to confirm that it had plans to invest in the development of Manus’ offerings and utilize the technology for consumer and business purposes, including Meta AI.
A Strategic Fit Amid Intensifying AI Competition
The deal comes as Meta and other technology heavyweights pursue acquisitions, partnerships, and talent hires to accelerate AI development. Earlier this year, Meta invested in data-labeling company Scale AI, a transaction that valued the firm at $29 billion and brought its CEO into Meta’s leadership fold.
For Meta, Manus adds not just technology but also a team experienced in building autonomous AI systems, an area increasingly seen as the next frontier beyond conversational chatbots.
From Beijing Roots to Singapore Base
Manus operates under Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology and is among several Chinese AI firms that have shifted their domicile to Singapore in recent years. The move reflects a broader trend among technology startups seeking operational stability amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between China and the United States.
Earlier this year, Manus raised $75 million in funding at a reported valuation of around $500 million, with U.S.-based venture firm Benchmark leading the round.
The company also maintains a strategic partnership with Alibaba, collaborating on AI model development, an association that further strengthened its profile before the Meta acquisition.
What This Signals for the AI Industry
Acquisition by Meta of Manus puts a marker in the ground on the increasing value of autonomous AI systems and underscores Singapore’s growing role as a neutral hub for technology companies with global ambitions. It also presages that Big Tech’s next phase of AI expansion probably will focus less on incremental upgrades of chatbots and more on systems capable of independent reasoning and action.
The deal pumps pace into an AI arms race more definitively shaped by scale, speed, and the ability to deploy advanced intelligence across the humdrum of everyday digital products as Meta integrates Manus into its fold.
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