As AI agents become more autonomous, a new problem is quickly surfacing: how do they actually pay for the tools they use?
That question is at the heart of AI agent payments, a fast-emerging category aimed at giving autonomous software the ability to purchase APIs, data, and compute on its own. On Thursday, Sapiom announced it has raised $15 million in seed funding to tackle exactly that challenge.
The timing is no accident. Non-technical creators are increasingly building custom apps using “vibe coding” platforms like Lovable, which turn natural language prompts into working software. While these tools are great for rapid prototyping, pushing them into production often reveals a major gap: connecting apps to paid external services.
Turning Payments Into Infrastructure for AI Agents
Sapiom was founded by Ilan Zerbib, who previously spent five years as Shopify’s director of engineering for payments. His insight was simple but powerful: AI agents can’t truly operate independently unless they can handle payments without human intervention.
Last summer, Zerbib launched Sapiom to build a financial layer that enables AI agent payments across software, APIs, data services, and compute resources. In practice, this means AI agents can securely decide what to buy, when to buy it, and how much to spend — all on their own.
Every time an agent connects to a service like Twilio to send an SMS, or spins up compute on Amazon Web Services, a micro-transaction takes place. Sapiom’s goal is to abstract that complexity away, turning payments into invisible infrastructure.
Why Investors Are Paying Attention
The seed round was led by Accel, with participation from Okta Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures.
Accel partner Amit Kumar said he’s evaluated dozens of startups in the AI payments space, but believes Sapiom’s enterprise-first approach is key.
“In the future, apps are going to consume services that require payments,” Kumar said. “Right now, there’s no easy way for agents to actually access all of that.”
In his view, AI agent payments are less about consumer spending and more about enabling enterprise-grade automation at scale.
Making Vibe-Coded Apps Production-Ready
Sapiom’s infrastructure could dramatically simplify life for creators using vibe-coding tools like Lovable or Bolt.
Instead of manually signing up for third-party services, adding credit cards, and managing API keys, developers can rely on Sapiom to handle everything in the background. Usage-based costs — like sending SMS messages or processing payments — are passed through seamlessly, while the AI agent handles execution.
The result: vibe-coded apps that can move from prototype to production without hitting a payments wall.
Why Sapiom Is Starting With B2B
For now, Sapiom is focused squarely on enterprise use cases. While consumer-facing AI agents may eventually handle tasks like ordering rides or shopping online, Zerbib believes businesses are the more urgent market.
AI won’t magically make people buy more things, he argues. But it will fundamentally change how software consumes services — and AI agent payments will be a prerequisite for that shift.
If autonomous agents are going to run workflows, manage infrastructure, and operate digital businesses, they’ll need wallets of their own. Sapiom is betting it can become the financial backbone that makes that future possible.
Don’t miss out on our latest news—follow us for the latest AI news, breakthroughs, and insights that matter.