Catenaa, Tuesday, December 30, 2025- Meta has agreed to buy Manus at $2 billion, a popular Singapore-based AI agent with Chinese roots, in its effort to build a business around its massive AI investment.
The deal marks a rare US acquisition of an Asian tech company and the latest multibillion-dollar AI bet from Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.
The agreement was struck in about 10 days, Bloomberg reported.
Meta intends to continue operating and selling the Manus service while also integrating the technology into its products, it said in a statement.
Backed by some of China’s biggest names, including Tencent Holdings, ZhenFund, and HSG, Manus shot to prominence early this year, not long after DeepSeek’s debut.
All of its existing investors have been bought out in Meta’s takeover, the report said. It’s unclear whether severing Chinese ties will ease government concerns at a time when the Asian nation and the US are vying for AI dominance.
“There will be no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus AI following the transaction, and Manus AI will discontinue its services and operations in China,” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Zuckerberg has made AI his company’s top priority and is spending billions to hire researchers, build data centers, and develop new models.
Manus had an annual revenue run rate of $125 million earlier this year from selling its AI agent to businesses via subscriptions, which could give Meta a more immediate return on some of its AI spending.
The Manus AI agent can complete a handful of general tasks, such as screening resumes, creating trip itineraries, and analyzing stocks in response to basic instructions.
Butterfly Effect raised money earlier this year at close to a $500 million valuation in an investment round led by US venture capital firm Benchmark.
