Natural raises $30 million to build payments for AI agents
Forerunner led the startup’s Series A as Natural builds infrastructure for AI agents to move, hold and collect money without human checkout steps.
By Jordan Bell · Startups & Deals Reporter
· 3 min read
Natural has raised $30 million to build payment tools for AI agents, a new fight that could shape how software buys services, pays vendors and collects money. For everyday investors watching fintech and AI, the deal shows where venture capital is moving next: toward the plumbing behind autonomous software, not just the chatbots people see on-screen.
The one-year-old startup is trying to solve a basic bottleneck. AI agents, meaning software that can carry out tasks with some independence, can already help find freight vendors, compare prices and contact a supplier, according to TechCrunch. The payment step still tends to pull a human back into the process.
That matters because today’s payment rails, the systems that move money and transaction information between banks, companies and consumers, were designed around people approving transactions. TechCrunch noted that common methods such as credit cards and ACH payments depend on human authorization, which can slow down agent-based workflows that are meant to run on their own.
Natural wants to sit underneath those agent transactions. The company describes itself as an agent orchestration layer, according to TechCrunch, giving companies infrastructure so their AI agents can store funds, send payments, receive money and transact with both people and other agents.
Who is behind Natural
Natural was founded in 2025 by Kahlil Lalji, Eric Wang and Walt Leung. Lalji and Wang previously co-founded Ivella, a Y Combinator-backed banking and finance product for couples that was sold to Earnin in 2023, according to TechCrunch. Lalji then worked at Earnin as an engineer for two years. Leung previously worked as an engineering manager at Nextdoor.
Lalji told TechCrunch he had not planned to return to finance after the end of the Zero Interest Rate Policy era, a period when low borrowing costs helped fuel startup funding. He said he kept returning to the payment problem because he believed agent payments would become one of the most important structural issues in AI.
Forerunner founder and managing partner Kirsten Green led Natural’s $30 million Series A, TechCrunch reported. The round brings Natural’s total funding to $40 million.
Green was drawn to the company’s wider plan, according to TechCrunch. Natural is not only targeting agent checkout for consumer purchases. It also wants to rethink parts of payment infrastructure such as how disputed transactions are handled.
A crowded race with Stripe in view
Natural has been operating in beta, but Lalji told TechCrunch the company has made key technical choices that give it a chance to compete with larger incumbents. He identified Stripe as Natural’s main rival, while TechCrunch noted that Stripe is also working on payment rails for AI agents.
The startup has hired senior employees who previously worked at Stripe, Ramp and Square, according to TechCrunch. Natural is also competing with other startups, including DCVC-backed Skyfire Systems, that are using USD-backed stablecoins for agent payments. Stablecoins are digital assets designed to be backed by traditional currency such as the U.S. dollar.
Natural plans to include stablecoins in its system while also supporting traditional bank payments, TechCrunch reported. Lalji’s broader bet is that payments could multiply if transactions move at software speed rather than human speed. He told TechCrunch the number of payments globally could become two, three or four orders of magnitude larger than it is today.
This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.
