Natural raises $30M to reinvent payments for AI agents — and take on Stripe
Natural raises $30M to reinvent payments for AI agents — and take on Stripe
Natural 融资 3000 万美元，旨在重塑 AI 代理支付体系并挑战 Stripe
AI agents are starting to execute more sophisticated tasks, such as identifying vendors that can deliver freight, comparing prices, and messaging the vendor to organizing a delivery. But when it comes to making a payment for the shipment, they still need to involve a human. AI 代理正开始执行更复杂的任务，例如识别货运供应商、比价以及联系供应商安排发货。但在支付运费时，它们仍然需要人类介入。
Today’s financial sector relies on financial rails, the underlying infrastructure that moves money and information between banks, businesses, and consumers. But these financial rails were built for human-initiated transactions, not autonomous AI agents. For example, traditional payment systems like credit cards and ACH rely on human authorization for transactions, which slows down agents engineered to work autonomously. 当今的金融行业依赖于“金融轨道”（financial rails），即在银行、企业和消费者之间转移资金和信息的基础设施。然而，这些金融轨道是为人类发起的交易而构建的，而非为自主 AI 代理设计。例如，信用卡和 ACH 等传统支付系统依赖于人类授权，这拖慢了旨在自主工作的代理的效率。
One new startup, Natural, is tackling the problem by redesigning the whole system from the ground up. And it now has $30 million in fresh capital to pursue an ambitious plan that will put it in direct competition with giants like Stripe. 一家名为 Natural 的初创公司正试图从底层重新设计整个系统来解决这一问题。目前，该公司已获得 3000 万美元的新资金，用于推进其雄心勃勃的计划，这将使其与 Stripe 等行业巨头展开直接竞争。
About a year ago, Natural co-founder and CEO Kahlil Lalji realized that AI agents were evolving faster than existing financial architecture, which can’t support tasks like autonomously paying a vendor, collecting payments, or transacting with each other. Lalji has a background in banking and finance, but as he prepared to launch another startup he had hoped to avoid the sector. His previous startup Ivella, a YC-backed banking and financial product for couples, was sold in 2023 to Earnin, where he worked as an engineer for two years. He told TechCrunch he had been burned by the finance sector after the Zero Interest Rate Policy era ended. 大约一年前，Natural 联合创始人兼首席执行官 Kahlil Lalji 意识到，AI 代理的进化速度超过了现有的金融架构，后者无法支持自主支付供应商、收款或代理间交易等任务。Lalji 拥有银行和金融背景，但在准备创办另一家公司时，他本希望避开该领域。他之前的初创公司 Ivella 是一家获得 YC 支持的夫妻理财产品，于 2023 年被 Earnin 收购，他在那里担任了两年工程师。他告诉 TechCrunch，在零利率政策时代结束后，他曾被金融行业“灼伤”。
And yet, Lalji couldn’t ignore the opportunity. “I kept on coming back to it,” he said. “It just feels obvious that agentic payments are going to be structurally the most important problem [in the] space.” Lalji teamed up with Eric Wang, his co-founder at Ivella, and Walt Leung, a former engineering manager at Nextdoor, and founded Natural in 2025. 然而，Lalji 无法忽视这个机会。“我不断地回到这个想法上，”他说，“显而易见，代理支付将成为该领域结构上最重要的问题。”Lalji 与他在 Ivella 的联合创始人 Eric Wang 以及前 Nextdoor 工程经理 Walt Leung 联手，于 2025 年创立了 Natural。
The startup positions itself as an agent orchestration layer that enables AI agents to move and store funds. By integrating Natural’s infrastructure, companies can allow their agents to make autonomous payments, collect funds, and transact with both humans and other agents. 该公司将自己定位为代理编排层，使 AI 代理能够转移和存储资金。通过集成 Natural 的基础设施，企业可以让其代理进行自主支付、收款，并与人类或其他代理进行交易。
Natural got the attention of Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at VC firm Forerunner. Green, whose firm focuses on consumer experiences and the future of commerce, led its $30 million Series A round in the company, bringing the company’s total funding to $40 million. Green was attracted by Natural’s broader ambitions. The startup isn’t just focused on helping agents pay for and check out goods on behalf of consumers, it’s also trying to reinvent payment infrastructure, including how disputed transactions are handled. Natural 引起了风投公司 Forerunner 创始人兼管理合伙人 Kirsten Green 的注意。Green 的公司专注于消费者体验和商业未来，她领投了 Natural 的 3000 万美元 A 轮融资，使该公司总融资额达到 4000 万美元。Green 被 Natural 更宏大的愿景所吸引。这家初创公司不仅专注于帮助代理代表消费者支付和结账，还试图重塑支付基础设施，包括如何处理交易纠纷。
Although Natural has operated in a beta trial until now, Lalji told TechCrunch that the startup has made enough critical architectural decisions to give it a “good shot” at competing with incumbents like Stripe, which is also racing to redesign payment rails for AI agents. Lalji hopes that Natural’s fast development speed will allow it to outpace established giants and build the payment infrastructure that will serve as the financial backbone of AI agents. The startup’s mission has attracted senior staff who previously worked at fintech giants Stripe, Ramp, and Square. 尽管 Natural 目前仍处于测试阶段，但 Lalji 告诉 TechCrunch，该公司已经做出了足够的关键架构决策，使其有“很大机会”与 Stripe 等老牌巨头竞争，后者也在竞相为 AI 代理重新设计支付轨道。Lalji 希望 Natural 的快速开发速度能使其超越既有巨头，构建起作为 AI 代理金融支柱的支付基础设施。该公司的使命吸引了曾就职于 Stripe、Ramp 和 Square 等金融科技巨头的高级员工。
Although Natural views Stripe as its main competitor, several other startups, including DCVC-backed Skyfire Systems, are trying to reinvent the payments backbone for AI agents using USD-backed stablecoins. While Natural plans to incorporate stablecoins into its architecture, it is also building support for traditional bank payments. While there is a fierce race to dominate the field, Lalji is betting the entire market could grow significantly if transactions happen at computer speed rather than human speed. “The number of payments that may occur in the world may be two or three or four orders of magnitude greater than the number of payments that exist today,” he said. 虽然 Natural 将 Stripe 视为主要竞争对手，但其他几家初创公司（包括获得 DCVC 支持的 Skyfire Systems）正试图利用美元支持的稳定币来重塑 AI 代理的支付骨干。虽然 Natural 计划将稳定币纳入其架构，但它也在构建对传统银行支付的支持。尽管该领域的竞争异常激烈，但 Lalji 押注，如果交易能以计算机速度而非人类速度进行，整个市场可能会大幅增长。“世界上可能发生的支付数量可能会比今天存在的支付数量多出两到四个数量级，”他说。