China-founded AI-agent start-up Manus acquired by Zuckerberg’s Meta for ‘billions’

A China-founded start-up that specialises in artificial intelligence agents was acquired by US tech giant Meta Platforms for billions of dollars, marking a landmark deal amid US-China competition in AI technology.\nThe acquisition of Singapore-based Manus just nine months after its public launch in March underlines China’s AI competitiveness despite Washington’s efforts to deprive its rival of access to advanced US chips and funding.\nAccording to announcements from both sides, Manus would integrate its technology into Meta’s platforms and continue operating from Singapore, where it relocated to in July in an apparent move to manage geopolitical risks arising from US-China competition. It had been based in central China’s Wuhan and in Beijing.\nThe two companies did not disclose the deal value, but Chinese technology news outlet LatePost reported that Manus was sold to Meta for “billions of US dollars”. The acquisition follows Meta’s purchase of 49 per cent of Scale AI for US$14.3 billion in June.\nMeta said in a statement that it was taking in Manus “to bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products”. It said Manus was serving the daily needs of “millions of users and businesses worldwide”.\nMeta is adjusting its AI strategy as it struggles to keep up with other US tech giants. The company is reportedly using Qwen, an open-source model developed by Alibaba Group Holding, to train a new model code-named Avocado.\nManus founders and investors, meanwhile, find themselves hitting a jackpot. In comparison, Chinese AI start-up Zhipu is raising US$560 million from an initial public offering in Hong Kong, while another Chinese AI little dragon, MiniMax, targets US$700 million.\n“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger and more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao Hong, founder and CEO of Manus, in the announcement. Xiao will take on a vice-president role at Meta following the transaction.\nXiao – known as “Red” in China’s technology community – is a serial entrepreneur from central China’s Jiangxi province. He founded Butterfly Effect in 2022 in Wuhan, Hubei province, where he graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.\nManus was initiated in 2024 by a founding team assembled under the matchmaking of early investor ZhenFund. Ji Yichao, a serial entrepreneur now serving as the company’s chief scientist, joined alongside veteran product manager Zhang Tao to build what the company described as an autonomous AI agent capable of planning and executing multi-step tasks with minimal human input.\nSince its launch, Manus has generated industry buzz for its capabilities as well as its limited and highly sought-after invitation codes.\nManus said it had processed more than 147 trillion tokens, created over 80 million virtual computers and reached an annual recurring revenue of US$100 million within nine months. Earlier this month, the company released its latest flagship model, Manus 1.6 Max.\nIn a social-media post, Ji reflected on the symbolism of the deal, posting pictures that showed Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and he both working on start-up launches in the same room in Palo Alto, California – albeit separated by several years. “Today, those paths merge,” he said.\nButterfly Effect previously raised four funding rounds from investors including ZhenFund, HongShan, Tencent, Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen, Old Friendship Capital and Benchmark Capital. Its Series B round, announced in April, valued the company at close to US$500 million.\nLiu Yuan, a partner at ZhenFund, said in a post following the deal that although the Manus team did not train its own foundation models, “deep user insight and outstanding product engineering are the true scarcities of this era”. He added that Manus showed how a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs could build globally significant companies.\nThe acquisition of Manus aligns with Meta’s pivot towards agentic AI – systems capable of independent reasoning and task execution – which Zuckerberg has identified as the next frontier in the company’s road map towards artificial general intelligence.\n