#ai-acquisitions

#ai-acquisitions

As we wind down 2025, I'm doing what just about everyone else is doing-thinking about 2026. For the private markets, this means thinking about more AI, all the time. That said, I do think next year the rubber is going to meet the road for AI startups and giants alike. High compute costs, compressed margins, and soaring valuations and expectations will inevitably collide with reality. And for some, this will mean even more acquisitions and more acquihires than perhaps we've seen so far in the AI boom.

Workday, which offers an AI platform for finance and HR, announced on Tuesday a definitive agreement to acquire Swedish AI startup Sana for around $1.1 billion. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday's fiscal 2026, follows two other strategic acquisitions, Paradox and Flowise, announced last month. I sat down with Zane Rowe, CFO of Workday (a CFO Daily sponsor) to discuss his perspective on the deal and the company's approach to M&A. Sana's proprietary technology, known for its intuitive user interface and foundational AI learning tools, aligns closely with Workday's offerings, he explained. This will now be paired with Paradox's conversational AI for frontline workers and Flowise's AI agent-building capabilities.

But here's the nuance: It's not that you can't proactively sell your startup. It's that acquisitions driven by an acquirer's initial interest usually yield better outcomes, given your situation and the state of the market. Our process started with inbound interest from a few companies looking to buy Kraftful for strategic reasons. To ensure the best deal, I also connected directly with CEOs, CTOs, and chief product officers at 25+ companies, leading to serious conversations with more than 10 companies.