Meta announced on Monday (December 29) that it will acquire Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup Manus, as the tech giant accelerates efforts to integrate advanced AI across its platforms.
Financial terms of the Manas deal were not disclosed, but the deal would value the Singapore-based company between $2 billion and $3 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Manas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Once hailed as China's next DeepSeek, Manas made headlines earlier this year when it released what it claims is the world's first general-purpose AI agent on X that can autonomously make decisions and perform tasks with far fewer prompts than an AI chatbot.
Since then, the Chinese government has expressed interest in supporting Manus, claiming that its AI agents outperform OpenAI's Deep Research. The company also has a strategic partnership with Alibaba to collaborate on AI models.
Meta will not only operate and sell the Manus service, but also integrate it into consumer and business products, including Meta AI, the company said.
Manas added that the company will continue to operate from Singapore.
Tech giants like Meta are ramping up their investments in AI through strategic acquisitions and talent hires to survive intense industry competition.
Earlier this year, Facebook's owner invested in Scale AI in a deal that values the data labeling startup at $29 billion and brings in 28-year-old CEO Alexander Wang.
According to media reports, Manas raised US$75 million this year at a valuation of about US$500 million, with the backing of its parent company Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology. US venture firm Benchmark led the funding round.
The company is among a number of Chinese companies to set up base in Singapore in recent years, betting that relocating to the trade-centric city-state will reduce the risk of disruption to its operations from geopolitical tensions in China and America.
