Meta has acquired an AI startup called Manus — known for its custom research and website-building agents — in a deal valued at more than 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″ class=”rapid-with-clickid” data-original-link=”https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-buys-ai-startup-manus-adding-millions-of-paying-users-f1dc7ef8″>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, DeepSeek appeared on the scene. The company (called Butterfly Effect at the time) originally described it as "the first general AI agent" to perform complex tasks autonomously, rather than just generating ideas. It draws from several third-party models, particularly Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet and versions of Alibaba's Qwen. 

Manus is designed to automate certain tasks, like market research, coding, sales data analysis and website cloning and creation. (However, one skeptic called it "a product devilishly optimized for influencers, which is why it exploded so much.") The company claims that Manu is "already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses" and has an annualized average revenue of more than

Outsourcing IT services.meta buys startup

Manus laid off most of its Beijing employees this summer before moving its headquarters to Singapore in an effort to expand globally.The company was reportedly seeking a funding round that would have valued it at Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made," said Manus CEO Xiao Hong in a company news release.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-buys-startup-known-for-its-ai-task-automation-agents-140045275.html?src=rss

Original aticle here: Engadget