Meta buys AI analytics startup Sundial for new data unit

Meta Platforms has acquired Sundial, an AI-powered data analytics platform built by two former Meta executives, a company spokesperson confirmed to Axios, which first reported the deal on Friday, October 23. Sundial will become part of Meta's new data analytics organization and will stop serving outside customers once the deal closes. The purchase shows Meta putting more money into internal analytics as its AI push drives up demand for data insights.axios.com

Founders return to Meta

Co-founders Julie Zhuo and Chandra Narayanan are joining Meta, along with other Sundial employees, several of them Meta alumni, Axios reported. Zhuo was previously Meta's vice president of product design. Narayanan led analytics at Sequoia Capital and Instagram and was director of analytics at Facebook. Alex Schultz, who runs the new unit, said in a LinkedIn post that Narayanan will lead Meta's data analytics tooling and agents work, according to Axios. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, The Verge noted in its coverage.theverge.com+1

Zhuo announced the deal on X, saying she and Narayanan started Sundial "nearly six years ago" and that it had supported "some of the fastest-growing AI companies from OpenAI to Gamma." She called Meta "my former home" and "one of the most analytically rigorous places on the planet." She also wrote that the company "started before the AI wave and rebuilt ourselves to be AI-native."x.com

What Sundial built

Sundial's platform turns natural-language questions and complex data into usable insights through a chatbot plugin. That lets teams run their own analysis instead of waiting on a centralized data group, Axios reported. Zhuo said the product automated steps like cleaning data, creating semantic layers and writing SQL, according to her post.axios.com+1

Sundial had raised $23 million in total, including a $16 million Series A led by GPV partner DJ Patil, the first U.S. chief data scientist, the company said. Its other backers included Sequoia Capital, Slow Ventures and Electric Capital, plus angel investors such as Fidji Simo, Tobi Lütke and Drew Houston.sundial.ai

Meta's new DATA unit

In July, Meta named Schultz, its former marketing chief, as its first-ever chief data officer. He now oversees the newly formed Data Analytics Tooling & Agents unit, nicknamed DATA, per Axios. The group handles descriptive analysis, including finding questions the company hasn't yet asked. It also runs experiments to improve Meta's data and AI products and monitors the company's critical AI systems.axios.com

"AI has created effectively unlimited demand for insights, and we want to define the future of AI analytics," Schultz wrote, as quoted by Axios.axios.com