NextFin — Meta Platforms (META.O) said on Monday it would acquire Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus, stepping up its push to deploy advanced AI agents across its social media, messaging and enterprise platforms as competition in the sector intensifies.
The deal underscores how Big Tech companies are racing to secure both cutting-edge technology and scarce AI talent, as increasingly powerful systems shift from narrow applications such as chatbots toward autonomous agents that can perform complex, multi-step tasks with limited human input.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Meta said it will operate and commercialise Manus’ AI agent as a standalone service while also integrating the technology into its consumer and business products, including Meta AI, its assistant embedded across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
“AI agents represent the next major platform shift, enabling software to act on behalf of users rather than simply respond to prompts,” Meta said in a statement. “The Manus team brings strong technical depth and a product vision aligned with our long-term strategy.”
Manus, which is headquartered in Singapore and backed by Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology Ltd Co, develops a general-purpose AI agent designed to function as a “digital employee.”
Unlike conventional chatbots, the Manus agent is built to independently execute tasks such as online research, data analysis, document preparation, scheduling and workflow automation with minimal user supervision.
The company launched the product earlier this year and gained attention by publicly demonstrating its capabilities on social media platform X, where it completed dozens of tasks for users free of charge as part of its marketing push.
Manus has claimed that its system outperforms OpenAI’s “DeepResearch” agent in certain benchmarks related to long-horizon reasoning and task completion, though such comparisons are difficult to independently verify and often depend on narrowly defined test scenarios.
The acquisition follows a series of aggressive moves by Meta to strengthen its position in artificial intelligence, which it sees as central to future growth in advertising, content creation, e-commerce and enterprise services.
Earlier this year, Meta invested in Scale AI in a deal valuing the data-labeling startup at about $29 billion, and recruited its 28-year-old founder and chief executive Alexandr Wang to take a senior role inside the company.
Like rivals Microsoft, Google, Amazon and OpenAI, Meta is shifting from building large language models alone toward creating full-stack AI products that combine models, tools, data and interfaces into end-to-end solutions for both consumers and businesses.
Industry analysts say autonomous agents could become a major new revenue stream by automating knowledge work in areas such as customer support, marketing, finance, legal research and software development.
“Whoever controls the agent layer controls the interface between humans and digital work,” said one AI industry analyst. “That’s why the battle is moving from models to agents.”
Meta said it plans to embed Manus into Meta AI and other internal systems to enhance capabilities such as task automation, research assistance, business process optimisation and personalised services for users and advertisers.
The company did not provide a timeline for the rollout or specify which products would be first to receive the Manus integration.
It also said Manus would continue to be offered as a standalone service to enterprise customers, positioning it as a productivity and automation platform rather than solely a consumer-facing feature.
The acquisition highlights the growing importance of Chinese-founded AI startups in the global ecosystem, even as geopolitical tensions and regulatory scrutiny complicate cross-border technology deals.
While Manus is Singapore-based, its parent company and much of its technical talent originate from China, reflecting the country’s rapidly expanding AI research and engineering base.
Meta did not comment on whether the deal required regulatory approvals or how it would address data governance, security or compliance issues across jurisdictions.
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