Meta has acquired an AI startup called Manus — known for its custom research and website-building agents — in a deal valued at more than $2 billion, according to data-i13n=”elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:The Wall Street Journal;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1″ href=”https://shopping.yahoo.com/rdlw?merchantId=2f007401-3eaa-4237-b69b-54ccbe125502&siteId=us-engadget&pageId=1p-autolink&contentUuid=35d389ba-b56d-4881-a576-2b009dd12336&featureId=text-link&merchantName=The+Wall+Street+Journal&linkText=The+Wall+Street+Journal&custData=eyJzb3VyY2VOYW1lIjoiV2ViLURlc2t0b3AtVmVyaXpvbiIsImxhbmRpbmdVcmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53c2ouY29tL3RlY2gvYWkvbWV0YS1idXlzLWFpLXN0YXJ0dXAtbWFudXMtYWRkaW5nLW1pbGxpb25zLW9mLXBheWluZy11c2Vycy1mMWRjN2VmOCIsImNvbnRlbnRVdWlkIjoiMzVkMzg5YmEtYjU2ZC00ODgxLWE1NzYtMmIwMDlkZDEyMzM2Iiwib3JpZ2luYWxVcmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53c2ouY29tL3RlY2gvYWkvbWV0YS1idXlzLWFpLXN0YXJ0dXAtbWFudXMtYWRkaW5nLW1pbGxpb25zLW9mLXBheWluZy11c2Vycy1mMWRjN2VmOCJ9&signature=AQAAAblKNgQHc_nyYq16D1rwbtHyHR-xfJCrrcBfx1jHNphV&gcReferrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Ftech%2Fai%2Fmeta-buys-ai-startup-manus-adding-millions-of-paying-users-f1dc7ef8&spaceId=1197802876″ class=”link rapid-with-clickid etailiffa-link” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:The Wall Street Journal;elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:The Wall Street Journal;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>The Wall Street Journal. It’s reportedly one of the largest acquisitions yet involving a startup nurtured in China’s AI ecosystem.
Manus arrived in March 2025, shortly after another Chinese AI startup, data-i13n=”cpos:2;pos:1″ href=”https://www.engadget.com/ai/engadget-podcast-deepseek-blows-up-the-ai-world-123036730.html” data-ylk=”slk:DeepSeek;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>DeepSeek appeared on the scene. The company (called Butterfly Effect at the time) originally described it as “the first general AI agent” to…
