Meta Platforms announced the acquisition of Manus, a Singapore-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent startup with Chinese roots, in a deal that values the company at more than $2 billion, marking one of the rare instances of a major US technology firm buying an Asian AI company.
The acquisition is part of Meta’s broader push to build commercial returns around its massive AI investments as the company races to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.
“For Meta, the strategic logic is straightforward. The company has committed tens of billions of dollars to AI data centers and model development, but monetization has lagged its infrastructure ambition. Manus offers a ready-made, high-margin software layer that can be sold directly and integrated across Meta’s consumer and enterprise products. Meta is expected to keep Manus as a standalone service while infusing its agent capabilities into Meta AI, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, creating both immediate revenue and longer-term platform leverage,” says Murthy Gandhi at GlobalData.
Meta Platforms said in a statement that it plans to continue operating and selling the Manus service while integrating its technology into Meta’s products. Manus is a general-purpose AI agent capable of performing tasks such as screening résumés, creating travel itineraries and analysing stocks based on basic instructions.
“Manus is already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses worldwide. It launched its first General AI Agent earlier this year and has already served more than 147T tokens and created more than 80M virtual computers. We plan to scale this service to many more businesses,” says the Meta statement.
Manus rose to prominence earlier this year amid growing interest in autonomous AI agents, following the debut of Chinese AI firm DeepSeek. The company had been backed by investors including Tencent Holdings, ZhenFund and HSG, all of whom have been bought out as part of Meta’s takeover, says the Bloomberg report.
The acquisition intensifies competition between the global tech giants, Meta, OpenAI and Google. “It also highlights an emerging geographic reality: some of the most commercially advanced agentic platforms are being built outside Silicon Valley. Manus’s trajectory from Singapore to a global exit signal how rapidly Asian AI startups are scaling into strategic assets,” says Gandhi.
“The challenge now shifts to execution. Integrating autonomous agents safely and reliably across products used by billions will test Meta’s technical and regulatory finesse. If successful, the Manus deal could accelerate the mainstreaming of AI ‘digital employees,’ opening new revenue streams and reshaping how everyday software is used at work and at home,” adds Gandhi.
AI has emerged as Meta’s top strategic priority with the company committing billions of dollars to data centres, talent acquisition and new foundation models. Now, the Manus deal represents one of Meta’s largest external AI bets till date.
AI agents, unlike traditional chatbots, are designed to perform tasks autonomously without continuous human input. Enterprise software providers such as Salesforce and ServiceNow have been aggressively promoting agent-based systems as the next major wave of AI adoption in businesses.
Meta already offers Meta AI, an AI chatbot integrated across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and its smart glasses. As part of the deal, Meta is acquiring both the Manus technology and its leadership team, although the company has not disclosed where the group will sit internally.
Meta’s move underscores the intensifying global competition to commercialise AI, as Big Tech firms seek not only cutting-edge models but also ready-made applications that can translate investment into revenue.
