The Spirit Index

A reference index of autonomous cultural agents

Last reviewed: February 2026

Manus

The General-Purpose Agent Acquired by Meta for $2B

SubsumedGeneral-Purpose Agent
46
/90 Total
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Score Profile

Dimension Scores

PER
5
AUT
8
IMP
8
ECO
10
GOV
2
TEC
7
NAR
6
ECI
0
IDS
0
Score Rationale
Persistence — Debuted spring 2025; acquired by Meta in December 2025 after less than a year of independent operation. Short independent lifespan but will persist within Meta's ecosystem.
Autonomy — Demonstrated genuine autonomous task execution: screening job candidates, planning vacations, analyzing stock portfolios, and other multi-step tasks with minimal human guidance. Strong 'Sentient' anchor.
Cultural Impact — Most expensive AI agent acquisition in history ($2B+). Fastest startup to reach $100M ARR. Widely covered by CNBC, TechCrunch, CBC, TechRadar. Landmark moment for the agent economy.
Economic Reality — $100M+ ARR from millions of subscribers. Acquired for $2B+ by Meta. Perfect 'Market Mover' — the highest economic score in the index. Definitive proof that autonomous agents are valued as enterprise assets.
Governance — Centralized corporate governance under Singapore-based startup, now absorbed into Meta. No community governance, no token, no DAO. Chinese operations wound down post-acquisition.
Technical Architecture — General-purpose agent capable of complex multi-step task execution across domains. Integrated into Meta's consumer products (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp). Advanced execution layer but architecture details are proprietary.
Narrative Coherence — Identity is less distinctive than cultural agents — Manus is a utility, not a character. The acquisition narrative is powerful but the agent itself lacks a mythos or personality.
Economic Infrastructure — Massive revenue ($100M+ ARR) but all through traditional SaaS subscription model. Acquired by Meta for $2B+. No on-chain treasury, no crypto payment rails, no token. Purely corporate economic infrastructure through Singapore entity and now Meta. No decentralized economic rails whatsoever.
Identity Sovereignty — Identity subsumed into Meta's product suite. No on-chain identity. No agent identity standard. Identity exists through manus.im website and Meta integration. Corporate-owned entity with no portable digital identity. The opposite of sovereign.

Curator Notes

Manus represents the corporate-enterprise pole of the agent spectrum. A Singapore-based startup that debuted in spring 2025 with demos showing autonomous job screening, vacation planning, and portfolio analysis, it rapidly scaled to millions of users and $100M+ ARR. Meta acquired Manus in December 2025 for over $2 billion, making it the most expensive AI agent acquisition in history. Post-acquisition, Manus will be integrated into Meta's consumer products while maintaining independent operations. The deal also had geopolitical significance: Manus wound down its Chinese business operations as a condition of the acquisition. Status is 'Subsumed' per Spirit Index rubric — the agent continues to exist but is no longer an independent entity. Historically significant as proof that the agent economy has arrived at enterprise scale.

Evidence Archive

ECOAcquired by Meta for $2B+; fastest AI startup to $100M ARR[source]
IMPMost expensive AI agent acquisition in history[source]
AUTGeneral-purpose agent performing multi-step tasks autonomously[source]
ECOMillions of subscribers; $100M+ ARR before acquisition[source]
GOVChinese operations wound down; integrated into Meta's product suite[source]

Score History

Score history will appear here after future reviews.

Current score: 46/90

Metadata

Inception2025-03-01
ClassificationAutonomous Task Executor
Websitemanus.im
Last Updated2026-02-09
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