Meta buys Stilla.ai for commerce agents in its messaging apps

Axios reports that Meta has acquired Stilla, a Swedish AI startup, to accelerate work on Meta Business Agent. The product is designed to help businesses handle transactions inside WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.

The strategic point is bigger than the size of the target. Meta already has massive consumer messaging reach; the harder commercial problem is turning those conversations into useful sales, support and checkout flows without making businesses stitch together separate tools. Buying an agent-focused team gives Meta more product and engineering muscle for that layer.

Stilla describes itself as building an AI teammate that gets work done. Axios says the startup will be folded into Meta’s effort around Business Agent, which puts the acquisition directly in the path of Meta’s AI commerce plans rather than in a side research project.

For readers, this is another sign that large platforms are moving agent features from demos into the business surfaces where money already changes hands. If Meta can make business chats more automated without making them feel worse for customers, AI agents become part of the default merchant stack instead of a separate app category.