Sapiom, a pioneering AI infrastructure startup, has raised $15 million in seed funding to develop a financial layer enabling AI agents to independently buy software, APIs, data, and compute resources.
The round was led by Accel, with participation from Okta Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures.
Revolutionizing AI Agent Autonomy
Founded by Ilan Zerbib, former director of engineering for payments at Shopify, Sapiom launched last summer to tackle backend integration challenges for AI-driven applications.
Zerbib's expertise in payments positions Sapiom to securely handle micro-transactions and authentications that AI agents need for external services like Twilio for SMS or Stripe for processing.
The platform automates sign-ups, credit card additions, and API key management in the background, passing through fees to users via vibe-coding platforms such as Lovable or Bolt.
This innovation addresses the rise of vibe coding, where non-technical creators build custom apps using plain-language prompts converted to code by AI tools.
However, production deployment has been hindered by the need to connect with payment gateways, email services, and other APIs, a gap Sapiom aims to fill.
Market Impact and Investor Insights
Accel partner Amit Kumar stated,
"In the future, apps are going to consume services which require payments. Right now, there’s no easy way for agents to actually access all of that."
Kumar further emphasized,
"Every API call is a payment,"
highlighting the granular transaction model powering modern AI ecosystems.
Initially targeting B2B enterprise use, Sapiom's technology promises broader impact by enabling AI agents to make financial decisions without human oversight.
Looking ahead, the company envisions expansion to consumer applications, where personal AI agents could handle tasks like booking rides or online shopping autonomously.
For details, see the original reporting by TechCrunch.
Alfred Lee
