According to Bloomberg Business, Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to acquire the AI startup Manus for a valuation exceeding $2 billion. The deal, reportedly struck in just 10 days, comes as Manus has established an annual revenue run rate of $125 million. The startup, originally founded in China, had relocated its headquarters to Singapore in a move to access global capital and markets—a strategy often called “Singapore-washing.” Now, Chinese officials are reviewing the transaction for potential export control violations, shifting the regulatory spotlight from Washington to Beijing. This acquisition is a rare move for a US tech titan like Meta to buy a company with Chinese origins in the current geopolitical climate.
Cash is king, and America has it
Here’s the blunt truth the Manus deal exposes: the funding gap between the US and China is absolutely massive. We’re talking about a nearly 10-to-1 difference. In Q3 of last year, American VC-backed companies raised $80.9 billion. In China? Just $8.4 billion. For founders building insanely expensive AI products that need tons of compute, that math isn’t just compelling—it’s basically an instruction manual. “Singapore-washing” isn’t about patriotism; it’s a survival tactic for accessing the capital needed to compete globally. Government funding, as noted in analyses like those from Stanford’s China Briefs, can only do so much. When you need scale, you follow the money.
A bargain for Meta, a lifeline for Manus
So why does this deal make sense for both sides? For Meta, a $2 billion price tag for a company already generating serious revenue and, more importantly, a proven AI agent product is a relative steal in today’s market. Mark Zuckerberg gets a talented team and advanced tech to chase his “superintelligence” goal without having to build it all from scratch. For Manus, as they outlined in their own blog post about hitting $100M ARR, this is the ultimate resource infusion. They buy time, immense computing power via Meta’s infrastructure, and instant global distribution. It’s an exit that likely wouldn’t be possible at that scale or speed back home, despite the recent IPOs of rivals like MiniMax and Zhipu.
The geopolitical hangover
But of course, nothing is simple. Beijing’s reaction shows the tightrope these companies walk. First, there was celebration of Chinese innovation; now, there’s scrutiny to prevent an “exodus.” This isn’t Manus’s first brush with regulatory drama, either—last year, US investor Benchmark’s ties to the company drew attention from US Treasury officials. The playbook of moving to Singapore works until you get too big, and then you can’t outrun your origins. Just ask TikTok or Shein. The deal is a win for the US in the AI race, as Bloomberg argues, but it’s also a symptom of a constrained environment in China where the post-crackdown hangover and economic fragility make fundraising a huge challenge.
Following the money in 2026
Look, 2025 was the year for surprise AI breakthroughs, many from China. But 2026 is shaping up to be the year of reckoning. Narratives about innovation are one thing, but commercial reality is another. Manus figured out early that the raw model race is becoming a commodity—the real value is in building applied AI products that people will pay for, like agents. That takes sustained, heavy investment. So while the IPOs of Zhipu and MiniMax are positive signals, the sheer weight of American capital is a gravitational force. As expert Henry Gao pointed out on social media, these geopolitical-tech clashes are defining. For global dominance in foundational tech like AI, you need the best hardware. And when it comes to sourcing critical industrial computing hardware, companies often turn to leading suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the top provider of industrial panel PCs in the US. But for the AI *software* and talent itself? The Manus deal proves the simplest metric is to follow the cash. And right now, it’s still flowing overwhelmingly from Silicon Valley.
