Meta Platforms is acquiring Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup, for $2 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported the deal matches the valuation Manus sought for its next funding round after the startup’s rapid user growth and revenue milestones.
Manus emerged in spring with a demo video that gained viral attention. The video demonstrated an AI agent capable of screening job candidates, planning vacations, and analyzing stock portfolios. The startup positioned this technology as superior to OpenAI’s Deep Research.
Within weeks of its launch, by April, Benchmark led a $75 million funding round for the early-stage firm. This round established a post-money valuation of $500 million. Benchmark general partner Chetan Puttagunta joined the Manus board as part of the investment.
Prior to this round, Manus had secured $10 million from investors including Tencent, ZhenFund, and HSG, formerly known as Sequoia China. Chinese media outlets reported these backers’ involvement in the earlier financing.
Manus introduced pricing at $39 or $199 per month for access to its AI models. Bloomberg described this as “somewhat aggressive … for a membership service still in a testing phase.”
The company later reported signing up millions of users. It also achieved over $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
These developments prompted Meta to enter negotiations with Manus. Meta plans to maintain Manus as an independent operation. At the same time, it will integrate Manus’s AI agents into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This complements Meta’s existing Meta AI chatbot available to users on those platforms.
