Meta has acquired Stilla, a Stockholm startup that makes an AI agent for teams, to speed up work on Meta Business Agent, its AI system for handling customer conversations and sales on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Axios first reported the deal on 9 September 2026, and Stilla confirmed it the same day in a post on its blog.
Terms were not disclosed. The price, the form of payment and the expected closing date were not made public.
Stilla's team and technology are moving to Meta once the deal closes, according to Stellagent's summary of the Axios report. In its own post, Stilla told customers it would keep the service running and remain the agent platform they rely on.
What Stilla built
Stilla was founded in Stockholm in 2024 and came out of stealth in January 2026. It sold what it called a multiplayer AI agent: one assistant shared by a whole team rather than a customer service bot. The product links a team's existing software, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, GitHub and Linear among more than 3,000 supported tools, gathers context from that work and turns it into tasks the team approves.
Stellagent reported that Spotify and Ramp were among its users. Stilla's own post referred to unnamed customers, including a supply chain business serving millions of people and a large investment portfolio, and linked to a SOC 2 security certification.
"Eight months ago we launched Stilla as one of the best multiplayer AI agents for teams and companies," the founders wrote. "Today, Stilla is joining Meta to bring this expertise and tech to strengthen their AI products for business."
“Eight months ago we launched Stilla as one of the best multiplayer AI agents for teams and companies. Today, Stilla is joining Meta to bring this expertise and tech to strengthen their AI products for business.”
The founders and the funding
Stilla was started by Siavash Ghorbani and Kaj Drobin, who previously co-founded Tictail, a Swedish e-commerce platform that Shopify acquired in 2018.
The company raised $5 million in pre-seed funding, announced in January 2026 when it left stealth. General Catalyst led the round, according to Stellagent. No headcount was reported, and MediaPost described the company as relatively small.
Why Meta is buying
Meta launched Business Agent globally on 3 June 2026 after almost two years of tests in India, Mexico and Brazil. The agent answers questions, recommends products from a business's catalogue, books appointments, qualifies leads and completes sales, with the business deciding when a person takes over. Meta says more than 1 million businesses use it.
In June Meta also announced the Meta Business Agent Platform, which connects the agent to hundreds of outside systems including Shopify and Zendesk. Stellagent cited Brazilian car rental company Movida, with nearly 400 locations, as an example: daily bookings through the channel rose 44% year over year and the agent fully resolved 85% of conversations. Meta says more than 1 billion threads between people and businesses are active each day across its three messaging apps. Zuckerberg has described the long-term goal for the product as a "business-in-a-box".
The company is trying to make messaging a larger source of revenue. Stellagent noted that revenue in the Family of Apps "other" line reached $1 billion in a quarter for the first time in the second quarter of 2026, up 73% from a year earlier. MediaPost pointed out that Meta's free cash flow fell 91% year over year in the same quarter as it spent heavily on AI.
Axios also reported that Meta plans to expand its presence in Sweden through the deal.
A second exit for the Tictail founders
Stilla is the second company Ghorbani and Drobin have sold. Their first, Tictail, was a Swedish e-commerce platform; Shopify bought it in 2018.
This time the buyer is using the team for a commerce product of its own. Meta Business Agent is aimed at small businesses that sell through WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, while Stilla's product was built for teams working inside companies. Stilla did not respond to Axios's request for comment at the time of the original report.
