Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has acquired Sundial, an artificial intelligence-powered data analytics startup. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the deal to Axios on October 23, 2026. The companies did not disclose the purchase price.

Sundial will stop serving outside customers once the transaction closes. Its co-founders, Julie Zhuo and Chandra Narayanan, will join Meta, along with other Sundial employees, including several former Meta staff members.

Zhuo and Narayanan founded Sundial in 2021. Zhuo previously served as Meta’s vice president of product design. Narayanan was analytics chief at Sequoia Capital and Instagram and was director of analytics at Facebook.

Sundial’s Analytics Technology

Sundial develops self-service analytics tools that use a chatbot plug-in to turn plain-language questions and complex datasets into more accessible insights. The system allows teams to analyze information independently rather than waiting for a centralized data unit, a process that can take longer to produce answers.

Following the acquisition, Sundial will be integrated into Meta’s new data analytics organization, known as Data Analytics Tooling & Agents, or DATA. Alex Schultz, Meta’s chief data officer and the leader of the unit, announced the move in a LinkedIn post.

Narayanan will lead Meta’s work on data analytics tooling and agents, returning the former Facebook analytics director to the discipline he once ran inside the company. Zhuo will also join Meta, although the company did not disclose her specific role.

Meta’s DATA Unit

Meta appointed Schultz, its former chief marketing officer, as the company’s first chief data officer in July — a sign that data analytics has been elevated to the C-suite as Meta builds out its AI organization. He oversees DATA, which conducts descriptive analysis, identifies questions the company has not yet asked and runs experiments intended to test and improve Meta’s data and artificial intelligence products.

The unit also monitors critical AI systems and issues alerts. Schultz wrote, “AI has created effectively unlimited demand for insights, and we want to define the future of AI analytics.” The Sundial acquisition hands that newly formed organization an added team and toolset for pursuing exactly that goal.

Sundial’s clients included OpenAI, a rival of Meta in artificial intelligence — meaning Meta now owns an analytics provider that one of its AI competitors counted among its customers. It remains unclear what will happen to those customer relationships after Sundial stops serving external clients.

Sundial raised $23 million in total funding. That included a $16 million Series A round in July 2025 led by DJ Patil of GPV, with backing from Sequoia Capital.

The acquisition follows similar moves elsewhere in the software industry. Salesforce agreed in October to acquire Loops for Tableau, while Microsoft and SAP added AI data tools during the year, continuing a broader pattern of enterprise software vendors folding AI capabilities into their data products. Meta’s confirmation on October 23 provided no valuation for the Sundial deal, and external service will end when the transaction closes.

Source: CoinCentral