Meta has acquired Stilla.ai, a Swedish AI startup founded in 2024, to bolster the agentic commerce capabilities embedded across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram1,2,3.
Meta plans to integrate Stilla.ai's team and technology into its existing agentic business offerings. The acquisition targets Meta's Business Agent, a product launched in June that lets brands automate customer responses within the direct-messaging hubs of WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. The Business Agent is now used by over one million businesses, according to Meta.
Stilla.ai raised $5 million in pre-seed funding before the acquisition.
The move fits into a broader commercial push by Meta to layer AI-driven transactions onto its messaging platforms. Mark Zuckerberg has said businesses will be able to use AI agents to help run their whole business as Meta's models advance. Meta is attempting to diversify revenue beyond advertising by selling Meta One subscriptions, tiered plans for businesses and creators using Meta AI.
ANALYSIS Acquiring a pre-seed-stage startup for its team and technology, rather than its revenue base, points to an acqui-hire aimed at accelerating development speed on the Business Agent product line.
Meta reported a 91% year-over-year drop in free cash flow in its Q2 2026 earnings. ◆ The steep free-cash-flow decline adds financial context to the subscription-revenue diversification effort: advertising alone is not offsetting Meta's current capital expenditures, raising the commercial stakes for products like Meta One and the Business Agent.
Meta also intends to expand its influence in Sweden through the Stilla.ai deal.