Meta buys Swedish AI startup Stilla.ai to power WhatsApp commerce agents
What's the deal? Meta has acquired Stilla.aiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Swedish AI startup, to accelerate development of Meta Business Agent, its chatbot that facilitates transactions on WhatsApp, MessengerDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Instagram, Axios reports. StillaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s team and technology will move to Meta once the deal closes, a source familiar with the transaction said.
Reality check: Stilla is a small company. Founded in Stockholm in 2024, it raised $5 million in pre-seed funding when it emerged from stealth in January.
What's the endgame? Over the past decade, Meta has built a commerce engine connecting millions of small businesses to its 1 billion-plus messaging users. That effort now hinges on making its AI chatbots useful to merchants converting customer conversations into purchases.
Why now? Meta says more than 1 million businesses already use its Business Agent chatbot to handle customer interactions. Adding Stilla's talent gives it more capacity to scale that tool across its messaging apps.
What to watch: Meta plans to expand its presence in Sweden following the deal, deepening its foothold in a European market that produced the startup.
The signal: The acquisition underscores Meta's push to bring AI to the commercial core of its messaging ecosystem — and reflects a broader race among tech giants to turn everyday chats into transactions.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
