Meta's deal for Manus AI could be worth $2.5 billion

Catch up quick: Manus AI was valued at only $500 million when it raised $75 million in Series B funding this past May, led by Benchmark.

• The deal was controversial given Manus AI's roots in China, although the company was headquartered in Singapore and its 100 or so China employees relocated shortly thereafter.

What it does: Manus AI has developed a general AI agent that it claims can complete various real-world tasks, going well beyond chatbot or workflow functions.

• Tasks include market research, coding, data analysis and resume screening.
• The company claims it reached over $100 million in annual recurring revenue within months of launch.

The intrigue: Manus is sold on a subscription basis to companies, marking Meta's first significant foray into AI for the enterprise.

• The deal has the potential to put Meta on more equal footing in the agentic AI race with competitors Salesforce, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI.

What we're watching: Meta has faced repeated scandals, fines, and criticism for data practices.

• Whether companies are willing to trust Meta as an enterprise-grade provider remains to be seen.