Lattice Acquires Mandala to Build AI-Native People Intelligence Platform

New updates have been reported about Lattice.

Lattice has acquired the AI-native coaching technology of Mandala and hired its founder, Tarun Galagali, in a move to accelerate the company’s People + AI strategy and deepen AI integration across its people platform. Galagali will lead development of new AI-native capabilities designed to give managers real-time, neuroscience-based coaching and decision support, enabling Lattice to serve customers at all stages of AI adoption.

The deal builds on Lattice’s existing performance data, engagement insights, and its Lattice AI Agent, which already provides in-flow coaching and alignment tools, and positions the company to offer what it calls the first AI-native people intelligence platform. CEO Sarah Franklin said Lattice aims to move beyond descriptive analytics to prescriptive guidance that directly links people performance to business outcomes, while Galagali highlighted plans to create a human-feeling intelligence layer that converts people data into measurable behavior change and leadership development.

The strategic timing aligns with rapid AI adoption in HR: Gartner projects that by 2030 half of current HR tasks will be automated or executed by AI agents, and as of early last year 61% of HR leaders were already in advanced stages of generative AI implementation, up from 19% in 2023, with most planning to deploy agentic AI capabilities. By integrating Mandala’s Slack-based, neuroscience-backed coaching technology—which has trained over 3,000 leaders at enterprises and high-growth firms—Lattice aims to differentiate from traditional, backward-looking performance tools by offering secure, context-aware, and actionable insights in real time.

For Lattice’s nearly 5,000 customers, the acquisition is intended to reduce managerial overhead tied to performance reviews and feedback cycles while improving coaching quality, leadership scalability, and linkage between talent decisions and financial performance. The company, founded in 2015 and operating across North America and the UK, is betting that embedding AI-native coaching into everyday workflows will strengthen its competitive position in the performance management and HR tech markets as enterprises accelerate investment in AI-driven people operations.