How Yichao “Peak” Ji became a global AI app hitmaker

In 2012, Ji launched his own company, Peak Labs, and later led the development of Magi, a search engine. The tool extracted information from across the web to answer queries—conceptually similar to today’s AI-powered search, but powered by a custom language model. 

​​Magi was briefly popular, drawing millions of users in its first month, but consumer adoption didn’t stick. It did, however, attract enterprise interest, and Ji adapted it for B2B use, before selling it in 2022. 

AI acumen 

Manus would become his next act—and a more ambitious one. His cofounders, Zhang Tao and Xiao Hong, complement Ji’s technical core with product know-how, storytelling, and organizational savvy. Both Xiao and Ji are serial entrepreneurs who have been backed by venture capital firm ZhenFund multiple times. Together, they represent the kind of long-term collaboration and international ambition that increasingly defines China’s next wave of entrepreneurs.

JULIANA TAN

People who have worked with Ji describe him as a clear thinker, a fast talker, and a tireless, deeply committed builder who thinks in systems, products, and user flows. He represents a new generation of Chinese technologists: equally at home coding or in pitch meetings, fluent in both building and branding. He’s also a product of open-source culture, and remains an active contributor whose projects regularly garner attention—and GitHub stars—across developer communities.

With new funding led by US venture capital firm Benchmark, Ji and his team are taking Manus to the wider world, relocating operations outside of China, to Singapore, and actively targeting consumers around the world. The product is built on US-based infrastructure, drawing on technologies like Claude Sonnet, Microsoft Azure, and open-source tools such as Browser Use. It’s a distinctly global setup: an AI agent developed by a Chinese team, powered by Western platforms, and designed for international users. That isn’t incidental; it reflects the more fluid nature of AI entrepreneurship today, where talent, infrastructure, and ambition move across borders just as quickly as the technology itself.

For Ji, the goal isn’t just building a global company—it’s building a legacy. “I hope Manus is the last product I’ll ever build,” Ji says. “Because if I ever have another wild idea—(I’ll just) leave it to Manus!”