Natural secures $30mn to build payment rails for AI agents

Natural has raised $30mn in Series A financing, bringing total funding for the payments startup to $40mn, TechCrunch reported. The round, led by Forerunner, adds capital to a young fintech company seeking to build payment infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, a field that could place it against incumbents including Stripe.

The company is focused on a gap in the emerging market for AI agents: software can increasingly compare suppliers, communicate with vendors and arrange services, but payments often still require human approval. Existing systems such as card networks and ACH were built around transactions initiated or authorised by people, which can slow software designed to act without continuous human intervention.

Natural was founded in 2025 by Kahlil Lalji, Eric Wang and Walt Leung, according to TechCrunch. Lalji and Wang previously co-founded Ivella, a Y Combinator-backed banking and financial product for couples that was sold to Earnin in 2023. Leung previously worked as an engineering manager at Nextdoor.

Lalji, Natural’s chief executive, told TechCrunch that he concluded about a year ago that AI agents were advancing faster than the financial systems needed to support them. Those systems, in his view, were not designed for agents that may need to pay suppliers, receive funds or transact with one another.

How the model works

Natural describes its product as an agent orchestration layer. In practice, companies would connect to Natural’s infrastructure so their agents can move and hold funds, accept money and transact with humans or other agents, according to TechCrunch.

The approach is broader than a checkout tool for consumer-facing agents. Forerunner founder and managing partner Kirsten Green was drawn to Natural’s wider plan, including its effort to rethink parts of payment infrastructure such as disputes, TechCrunch reported.

Disputes are a central issue for automated payments because conventional systems assume a person has initiated or reviewed the transaction. If software agents act at higher frequency and with greater autonomy, payment providers may need new ways to determine authority, intent and responsibility when a transaction is challenged.

Natural has so far operated in beta, TechCrunch reported. Lalji said the company has made enough of its underlying design choices to give it what he described as a “good shot” at competing with large existing providers. The company has also recruited senior employees who previously worked at Stripe, Ramp and Square, according to TechCrunch.

Competition for agent payments

Stripe is also working on payments infrastructure for AI agents, and Natural sees the company as its main competitor, TechCrunch reported. Other startups are pursuing related opportunities, including Skyfire Systems, backed by DCVC, which is using dollar-backed stablecoins as part of its agent payments model.

Natural plans to include stablecoins in its architecture while also supporting conventional bank payments, according to TechCrunch. That hybrid approach reflects a market in which startups are testing digital-dollar instruments for speed and programmability while still connecting to established banking channels used by businesses and consumers.

Lalji told TechCrunch he believes the number of payments could rise sharply if transactions occur at machine speed rather than human speed. He said global payment volumes could become “two or three or four orders of magnitude” larger than they are now if agent-based commerce develops as expected.

This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.