Meta Platforms has reached an agreement to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence (AI) firm headquartered in Singapore.

The owner of Facebook and Instagram did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Citing sources, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said Meta is “closing the deal at more than $2bn”.

Manus specialises in developing autonomous general-purpose agents that can handle a range of tasks, including market research, coding and data analysis.

Meta stated it intends to continue operating and selling the Manus service while integrating the technology into its own suite of products.

“We are excited to announce that Manus is joining Meta to bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products,” Meta’s statement read.

Manus first launched its general-purpose AI agent earlier this year, offering capabilities such as producing research reports and website creation by utilising models from AI companies including Anthropic and Alibaba.

Since its launch, Manus has served millions of users and businesses, processed more than 147 trillion tokens, and generated over 80 million virtual computers.

According to the WSJ report, the Singapore company said in December that it reached $100m in annual recurring revenue eight months after release.

Xiao Hong, who co-founded Manus and serves as chief executive, will join Meta and report to chief operating officer Javier Olivan.

The majority of Manus’s approximately 100 employees are based in Singapore.

Initially established as Butterfly Effect in 2022 with offices in Beijing and Wuhan, Manus moved its headquarters to Singapore following investment from venture capital firm Benchmark.

The firm also counts HSG, ZhenFund and Tencent among its investors.

Prior to the acquisition talks with Meta, Manus raised $75m in April in a funding round led by Benchmark, which resulted in a valuation of $500m at the time.