Meta has acquired Swedish artificial intelligence startup Stilla.ai as the technology giant continues to expand its use of AI in business and online commerce.
The acquisition, announced on Wednesday, September 9, is aimed at strengthening Meta Business Agent, an AI-powered tool that helps businesses communicate with customers and conduct transactions through WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.
Stilla was founded in Stockholm in 2024. The company developed AI agents designed to help teams and businesses carry out work using the information and digital tools available to them. It raised $5 million in pre-seed funding before coming out of stealth earlier this year.
Under the deal, Stilla’s team and technology are expected to join Meta once the acquisition is completed. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
The acquisition is part of Meta’s wider effort to make its messaging platforms more useful for businesses. The company has spent years building a system that connects small businesses with the huge number of people using WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.
Meta’s goal is to make it easier for customers to communicate with businesses and eventually complete purchases directly through these platforms. More than one million businesses already use Meta’s Business Agent chatbot to manage customer interactions, according to the company.
The deal comes at a time when technology companies are competing heavily to develop AI agents that can do more than simply answer questions. Instead, these systems are being designed to perform tasks, interact with software and help businesses complete work automatically.
For Meta, business-focused AI could also create new opportunities to generate revenue from its messaging platforms. The company is already investing heavily in artificial intelligence and recently launched Muse, its personal AI agent for consumers.
The Stilla acquisition shows that Meta is pursuing AI on two major fronts: helping individual users through products such as Muse and helping businesses use AI to communicate with customers and complete commercial activities.
Meta also plans to expand its presence in Sweden following the acquisition, further strengthening its AI operations in Europe.
The acquisition is another sign that AI is becoming increasingly important to Meta’s long-term business strategy, particularly as the company looks for ways to combine artificial intelligence with its massive messaging and social-media platforms.
