Manus is back in the spotlight.
The Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup is being acquired by Meta in a deal reported to be worth more than $2 billion — one of the most high-profile instances of a US tech giant buying an Asian AI company.
Manus grabbed headlines in March when it unveiled an AI agent designed to autonomously execute tasks like résumé screening and stock analysis.
The startup was founded in China and moved its headquarters to Singapore in mid-2025.
What does Manus do?
Launched in March by the Chinese AI product studio Butterfly Effect, Manus has been pitched by its creators as the world’s first “general” AI agent — a system designed to carry out tasks independently.
Since its launch, the startup has continued to expand what the agent can do, rolling out features that allow users to use Manus for design work, slide creation, and completing tasks directly through a web browser.
Manus can independently execute complex tasks, such as market research, coding, and data analysis, Meta said when it announced the acquisition on Monday.
Business Insider tested the tool in its early stages in March and found it ambitious but uneven in execution, including instances where it hallucinated data.
Earlier this month, Manus said it had surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, with its total revenue run rate — including usage-based fees and other income streams — exceeding $125 million.
The company in April raised $75 million in funding led by Benchmark, at a valuation of about $500 million, Bloomberg reported. Manus said in an update this month that it now employs about 105 people across Singapore, Tokyo, and San Francisco, and plans to open a Paris office soon.
Who are its founders?
Manus was founded by Xiao Hong, a Chinese entrepreneur and software engineer who is also the CEO of Butterfly Effect.
Known as “Red” in China’s tech circles, Xiao was born in 1992 and studied software engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in central China.
After graduating, Xiao founded Nightingale Technology in 2015, where he developed enterprise productivity tools, including the Yi Ban assistant for WeChat, which gained millions of users in China.
In 2022, he launched Butterfly Effect and rolled out Monica, an AI-powered browser extension that aggregates multiple large language models. Following the acquisition, Xiao will take on a vice president role at Meta.
Xiao was joined at Manus by co-founder Ji Yichao, also known as “Peak Ji,” who was chief scientist at Butterfly Effect. Ji leads technical and infrastructure development at Manus.
The 32-year-old Ji was the public face of Manus at launch, introducing the AI agent in its debut video in March. Ji has a long track record of building consumer technology products, and was named to MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list this year.
The founding team also includes Zhang Tao, who leads product at Manus. He was head of global product at ByteDance from 2022 to 2023 and has held multiple product roles, including serving as a product manager at Tencent, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Why did Meta buy Manus?
Meta said the acquisition is part of its effort to scale general-purpose AI agents across its apps and services.
The company said in its announcement on Monday that it plans to keep Manus running as a stand-alone product while integrating its technology into Meta’s wider AI offerings.
Manus said the deal would not be disruptive for its customers and that it would continue to sell and operate its subscription service. The company will also continue to operate from Singapore.
“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao.
Buying Manus could give Meta an AI revenue boost and give it a distribution advantage, Business Insider’s Hugh Langley wrote.
What about Manus’ ties to China?
Manus’s links to China have drawn scrutiny.
In May, Sen. John Cornyn questioned US investment in Manus in a post on X. He asked whether American capital should back AI companies with ties to China as competition with Beijing intensifies.
In a statement to Business Insider on Tuesday, a Meta spokesperson said the deal would fully sever Manus’s remaining ties to China.
“There will be no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus AI following the transaction, and Manus AI will discontinue its services and operations in China,” the spokesperson told Business Insider. This includes shutting down the AI assistant, Monica, and relocating relevant employees.
Manus employees who join Meta will not have access to customer data, and Meta will continue to geo-block access to its AI models, the spokesperson added.
