The Story of Manus AI: From $30M Rejection to Billions
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The Story of Manus AI: From $30M Rejection to Billions

From a rejected $30M offer to a multi-billion dollar Meta acquisition: The complete story of Manus AI. Discover how this 'Agentic AI' startup moved to Singapore and hit $100M ARR in record time.

Summary

The story of Manus AI is special. In less than two years, this company grew from a small team in Beijing to a multi-billion dollar part of Meta (Facebook).

This report explains how they did it. Manus succeeded by changing how we use AI. Instead of just "chatting" with a bot, Manus created a digital worker (an "Agent") that can actually do jobs for you. The founders also made a bold move to Singapore to avoid political problems.

By doing this, they reached $100 million in sales faster than almost any company in history. 100m arr celebrations in Manus

1. The Beginning: The Team That Said "No"

The Founders

Most big AI companies in China are started by famous professors. Manus was different. It was started by three young people who just wanted to build useful tools.

  • Xiao Hong (CEO): He studied software engineering and previously built popular tools for WeChat users.

  • Ji Yichao (Chief Scientist): A tech genius. He became famous in high school for building a web browser all by himself.

  • Zhang Tao (Product): An expert in making products. He worked at big companies like Tencent and ByteDance before joining Manus.

The First Product: Monica

Before they built Manus, they built Monica. This was a tool for your web browser (a Chrome extension). It helped people summarize text and write emails. It was very popular and made good money. This gave the team the cash they needed to build their next big idea.

The $30 Million Offer

In early 2024, ByteDance (the owner of TikTok) saw how good the team was. They offered to buy the company for $30 million.

Xiao Hong said no. He believed they could build something much bigger. He was right.

2. How It Works: Thinking and Doing

From Chatbot to Agent

Most AI, like ChatGPT, talks to you. Manus acts for you.

  • The Mind: It uses smart AI models (mostly Claude by Anthropic) to understand what you want.

  • The Hand: It creates a "virtual computer" in the cloud. It can open a browser, click buttons, and write code, just like a human using a laptop.

Was It Just a Copy?

Some critics called Manus a "wrapper." This is an insult in the tech world. It means you are just putting a simple shell around someone else's technology (like OpenAI's).

But Manus did something clever. AI models often forget instructions when a task gets long. Manus built a system that constantly reminds the AI of its "To-Do List." This keeps the AI focused, allowing it to finish complex jobs that other bots would fail at.

3. The Launch: March 2025

Going Viral

Manus launched in March 2025. They released a video showing the AI doing real work—like researching stocks and deploying a website—without human help.

It became an instant hit. Because the system was expensive to run, they limited the number of users. People wanted it so badly that invite codes were sold online for thousands of dollars.

The Jack Dorsey Tweet

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, tweeted just one word about Manus: "Excellent." This helped the company get famous in the United States.

4. Big Money and The Move to Singapore

The Benchmark Investment

In April 2025, a famous American investment firm called Benchmark led a funding round. They valued Manus at $500 million. This was very rare because Benchmark almost never invests in Chinese teams.

Moving to Survive

Soon after, the US government started looking closely at the deal because of the company's Chinese roots. To survive and keep growing, Manus had to change its identity.

In the summer of 2025, they moved the company to Singapore.

  • Layoffs: They had to fire about 80 people in Beijing.

  • Relocation: The core engineers moved to Singapore. They were paid much higher salaries (up to $18,000 a month) to move.

  • Digital Erasure: The CEO deleted his Chinese social media accounts to make the company look more global.

5. The New Version: Manus 1.5

Faster and Smarter

At first, Manus was a bit slow. In October 2025, they released a new version (Manus 1.5) that was much faster. They also added a feature called "Wide Research."

What is Wide Research?

Imagine you need to research 100 companies.

  • The Old Way: An AI looks at Company 1, then Company 2, then Company 3. By the end, it gets tired and forgets things.

  • The Manus Way: Manus creates 100 little AI agents. They all look at different companies at the exact same time. Then, a "Boss Agent" combines all the answers.

Breaking Records

By December 2025, Manus was making $100 million a year in sales. They reached this milestone in just 8 months. This made them the fastest-growing software company in history.

6. The Sale to Meta (Facebook)

Why Meta Bought Them

Meta (Facebook) wants to build the smartest AI in the world. They have the users (Instagram, WhatsApp), but they needed an AI that could actually do work. Manus was the perfect piece of the puzzle.

The Deal

In December 2025, Meta bought Manus. The deal happened very fast—negotiations took only 10 days.

  • The Price: Billions of dollars (the exact number is secret).

  • The Result: Manus will continue to operate as an independent service.

  • The Founders: Xiao Hong became a Vice President at Meta.

Conclusion

Manus proved that you don't need to be a famous professor to win in AI. You just need to solve a real problem. By moving to Singapore and focusing on "doing" rather than just "chatting," this team turned a rejected $30 million offer into a multi-billion dollar success.