Meta to buy Singapore's Manus in $2 billion bet on AI agents

Meta Platforms Inc has agreed to acquire Singapore-based startup Manus, adding a popular artificial intelligence agent to its effort to build a business around its massive Al investment.

- KURT WAGNER LUZ DING LULU YILUN CHEN

The deal values Manus at more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. It was struck in about 10 days, the people said, asking not to be named as the details are not public.

Meta intends to continue operating and selling the Manus service while also integrating it into its products, it said in a statement. Backed by some of China's biggest names like Tencent Holdings Ltd, ZhenFund and HSG, Manus shot to prominence early this year not long after DeepSeek’s debut.

Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has made AI his company’s top priority, and is spending billions to hire researchers, build data centres and develop new models. Manus had an annual revenue run rate of $125 million earlier this year from selling its AT agent to businesses via subscriptions, which could give Meta a more immediate return on some of its AI spending.