Who Owns Sana?
Sana is owned by Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a publicly traded enterprise software company headquartered in Pleasanton, California. Founded in 2016 in Stockholm by Joel Hellermark, Sana Labs built an AI knowledge and learning platform for enterprises. Workday acquired it in November 2025 for approximately $1.1 billion and relaunched it as Workday Sana, the AI experience layer across the Workday suite.
Sana Timeline
GlobalOfficial Website
Who Owns Sana?
- Parent Company: Workday, Inc.
- Ownership Type: Wholly owned
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock Ticker: Nasdaq: WDAY
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| Sana | Workday, Inc. | Wholly owned |
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History of Sana
- Founded: 2016
- Founders: Joel Hellermark
Joel Hellermark founded Sana Labs in Stockholm in 2016, at age 19, to apply machine learning to enterprise knowledge. The company first built personalized learning products, then expanded into an AI platform combining knowledge search, learning, and assistant capabilities.
The platform won enterprise customers across Europe and the US, attracting attention for its clean interface and its ability to connect corporate data sources into a single AI experience. It raised funding from investors including NEA and Menlo Ventures.
Workday announced the acquisition in September 2025 and closed it in November 2025. The product relaunched as Workday Sana in early 2026, with Sana Core and Sana Enterprise reaching general availability in February 2026 as the AI experience connecting Workday and third-party systems.
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About Workday, Inc.
Is Workday publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on Nasdaq under ticker WDAY and is in the S&P 500.
Who founded Workday?
Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri in 2005, after Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft.
Who is the CEO of Workday?
Aneel Bhusri, who returned to the role in February 2026 after Carl Eschenbach's tenure.
What does Workday sell?
Cloud software for human capital management, financial management, and planning, plus AI agents across those domains.
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What companies has Workday acquired recently?
HiredScore and Evisort in 2024, and Flowise, Paradox, Sana, and Pipedream during fiscal 2026.
Is Workday part of Oracle?
No. Workday was founded specifically because Oracle acquired PeopleSoft; it remains an independent competitor to Oracle.
- Founded: 2005
- Headquarters: Pleasanton, California, USA
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock: Nasdaq: WDAY
- Revenue: $9.55 billion total revenue, $8.83 billion subscription (FY2026, ended January 31, 2026)
- Employees: Approximately 20,500
Where Is Sana Made / Based?
- Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Sana Categories & Tags
Brands Owned by Workday, Inc.
Technology SoftwareEvisort
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Contract intelligence and document AI platform founded in 2016, acquired by Workday in 2024 to extend AI into procurement and legal workflows.
aicontract-managementdocument-ai
Technology SoftwareHiredScore
Owned by Workday, Inc.
AI recruiting and talent orchestration platform founded in 2013, acquired by Workday in 2024 to power agentic recruiting across its customer base.
airecruitinghr-software
Technology SoftwareParadox
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Conversational AI recruiting platform founded in 2016 in Scottsdale, acquired by Workday in fiscal 2026 to automate the candidate hiring journey.
airecruitingconversational-ai
Technology SoftwarePeakon
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Copenhagen-founded employee engagement and listening platform, acquired by Workday in 2021 and sold as Workday Peakon Employee Voice.
employee-engagementhr-softwaresurveys
Technology SoftwareVNDLY
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Cincinnati-founded vendor management system for contingent workforce, acquired by Workday in 2021 and integrated into its extended workforce platform.
vendor-managementcontingent-workforceprocurement
Technology SoftwareWorkday Adaptive Planning
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Enterprise planning and budgeting platform acquired by Workday in 2018, formerly Adaptive Insights, used for continuous financial and workforce planning.
planningbudgetingepm
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Sana Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Purpose-built AI experience layer, not a bolt-on chatbot
- +Distribution to the full Workday installed base
- +Connects third-party systems, positioning it as enterprise AI front door
Considerations
- -New product category with unproven willingness to pay
- -Microsoft Copilot competes for the same AI surface at lower cost
- -Integration expectations are high after a $1.1 billion price tag
Frequently Asked Questions About Sana
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Sources & Further Reading
Competitors to Sana
These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.
| Brand | Parent Company | Country | Founded | Market Position | Primary Market | Gender Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Servicenow | USA | 2004 | Mass market | Global | All Genders | |
| Workday | USA | 2013 | Mass market | Global | All Genders |
Learn More About Competitors
Technology SoftwareServiceNow
Owned by ServiceNow, Inc.
Enterprise cloud platform brand of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE: NOW) for workflow automation, IT service management, and agentic AI.
enterprise-softwaresaasworkflow
Technology SoftwareHiredScore
Owned by Workday, Inc.
AI recruiting and talent orchestration platform founded in 2013, acquired by Workday in 2024 to power agentic recruiting across its customer base.
airecruitinghr-software
Competitive Analysis
Market Positioning: Sana competes with 2 brands in the same categories, ranging from mass market to luxury positioning.
Geographic Distribution: Competitors are headquartered across multiple regions, indicating global competition in this market segment.
Brand Heritage: Competitor brands range from established heritage brands to newer market entrants, with founding years spanning several decades.
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Independent Alternatives to Sana
Looking for brands with different ownership structures? These similar brands are not owned by Workday, Inc., giving you alternative choices that support different corporate structures.
Technology SoftwareCalendly
Owned by Calendly, Inc.
Scheduling automation software platform that eliminates back-and-forth emails when booking meetings.
schedulingcalendarproductivity
Privately Owned
Calendly is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareCharacter.AI
Owned by Character.AI
AI chatbot platform for user-created characters, popular with younger users, whose company filed Chapter 11 in October 2026 and agreed to sell certain assets to Disney for $20 million.
artificial-intelligencechatbotai
Privately Owned
Character.AI is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareChatGPT
Owned by OpenAI
Artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI, based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) language model series.
artificial-intelligencechatbotlanguage-model
Privately Owned
ChatGPT is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareClaude AI
Owned by Anthropic PBC
AI assistant and large language model platform developed by Anthropic, offering chat, coding, and agentic AI capabilities through consumer and enterprise products.
ailarge-language-modelchatbot
Privately Owned
Claude AI is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareOdoo
Owned by Odoo S.A.
Belgian open-source business software suite offering integrated ERP, CRM, accounting, and e-commerce apps, valued near 10 billion euros in 2026.
erpopen-sourcebusiness-software
Privately Owned
Odoo is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwarePersona
Owned by Persona Identities, Inc.
Identity verification platform used by companies like OpenAI, LinkedIn, and Reddit to verify users and fight fraud. Founded in 2018 in San Francisco, valued at $2 billion in 2025.
identity-verificationkycfraud-prevention
Privately Owned
Persona is privately owned, unlike Sana which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Workday, Inc. Stock Information
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Jobs at Workday, Inc.
Latest News About Sana
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