{"id":3491164,"date":"2026-07-20T19:11:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/natural-secures-30m-to-transform-payments-for-ai-agents-and-challenge-stripe\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:11:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:11:25","slug":"natural-secures-30m-to-transform-payments-for-ai-agents-and-challenge-stripe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/natural-secures-30m-to-transform-payments-for-ai-agents-and-challenge-stripe\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural secures $30M to transform payments for AI agents \u2014 and challenge Stripe"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
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AI agents are beginning to perform more advanced functions, such as locating suppliers that can transport goods, evaluating pricing options, and communicating with the supplier to arrange for delivery. However, they still require human intervention for payment processing related to shipments.<\/p>\n

The modern financial landscape depends on financial rails, the foundational systems that facilitate the movement of money and information among banks, enterprises, and consumers. These financial rails were designed for human-driven transactions, rather than autonomous AI agents. For instance, conventional payment mechanisms like credit cards and ACH necessitate human approval for transactions, hindering the efficiency of agents crafted for autonomous operation.<\/p>\n

A new startup, Natural, is addressing this challenge by overhauling the entire system from scratch. It has recently secured $30 million in new funding to embark on an ambitious strategy that positions it to directly compete with industry leaders such as Stripe.<\/p>\n

Approximately a year ago, Natural’s co-founder and CEO Kahlil Lalji recognized that AI agents were advancing quicker than the current financial infrastructure, which fails to accommodate processes like autonomously paying a supplier, receiving payments, or conducting transactions amongst themselves.<\/p>\n

Lalji possesses a background in banking and finance, but as he geared up to launch another startup, he aimed to steer clear of the financial sector. His previous venture, Ivella, a YC-backed financial product for couples, was sold in 2023 to Earnin, where he served as an engineer for two years. He conveyed to TechCrunch that he had faced setbacks in the finance domain following the conclusion of the Zero Interest Rate Policy era.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Lalji could not overlook the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept on returning to it,\u201d he stated. \u201cIt just seems evident that agentic payments are going to be fundamentally the most critical issue [in the] sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lalji joined forces with Eric Wang, his co-founder at Ivella, and Walt Leung, a former engineering manager at Nextdoor, to establish Natural in 2025. The startup positions itself as an agent orchestration platform that empowers AI agents to transfer and manage funds. By incorporating Natural\u2019s framework, companies can enable their agents to perform autonomous payments, gather funds, and engage in transactions with both humans and other agents.<\/p>\n

Natural captured the interest of Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at venture capital firm Forerunner. Green, whose firm emphasizes consumer experiences and the future of commerce, led the company\u2019s $30 million Series A funding round, increasing its total capital to $40 million.<\/p>\n

Green was drawn to Natural\u2019s expansive goals. The startup is not solely concentrated on assisting agents with purchasing and checking out goods for consumers; it also aims to transform payment infrastructure, including how disputes are managed.<\/p>\n

While Natural has been in a beta phase until now, Lalji informed TechCrunch that the startup has made sufficient essential architectural choices to provide it with a \u201cpromising chance\u201d to compete against established players like Stripe, which is also striving to reconfigure payment rails for AI agents.<\/p>\n

Lalji anticipates that Natural\u2019s rapid development pace will enable it to surpass established behemoths and construct the payment infrastructure that will function as the financial foundation for AI agents. The startup\u2019s ambitions have attracted seasoned personnel who previously worked at fintech leaders Stripe, Ramp, and Square.<\/p>\n

Although Natural considers Stripe its primary adversary, numerous other startups, including DCVC-backed Skyfire Systems, are attempting to reinvent the payments foundation for AI agents using USD-backed stablecoins. While Natural intends to integrate stablecoins into its system, it is also developing support for traditional banking transactions.<\/p>\n

In the race to dominate this space, Lalji believes the entire market could experience substantial growth if transactions are conducted at computer speed instead of human speed. \u201cThe volume of payments that could happen globally might be two, three, or four orders of magnitude larger than the payments that occur today,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you make purchases through links in our articles, we may receive a small commission. This doesn\u2019t\u5f71\u54cd\u6211\u4eec\u7684\u7f16\u8f91\u72ec\u7acb\u6027.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n
\n

AI agents are beginning to perform more advanced functions, such as locating suppliers that can transport goods, evaluating pricing options, and communicating with the supplier to arrange for delivery. However, they still require human intervention for payment processing related to shipments.<\/p>\n

The modern financial landscape depends on financial rails, the foundational systems that facilitate the movement of money and information among banks, enterprises, and consumers. These financial rails were designed for human-driven transactions, rather than autonomous AI agents. For instance, conventional payment mechanisms like credit cards and ACH necessitate human approval for transactions, hindering the efficiency of agents crafted for autonomous operation.<\/p>\n

A new startup, Natural, is addressing this challenge by overhauling the entire system from scratch. It has recently secured $30 million in new funding to embark on an ambitious strategy that positions it to directly compete with industry leaders such as Stripe.<\/p>\n

Approximately a year ago, Natural’s co-founder and CEO Kahlil Lalji recognized that AI agents were advancing quicker than the current financial infrastructure, which fails to accommodate processes like autonomously paying a supplier, receiving payments, or conducting transactions amongst themselves.<\/p>\n

Lalji possesses a background in banking and finance, but as he geared up to launch another startup, he aimed to steer clear of the financial sector. His previous venture, Ivella, a YC-backed financial product for couples, was sold in 2023 to Earnin, where he served as an engineer for two years. He conveyed to TechCrunch that he had faced setbacks in the finance domain following the conclusion of the Zero Interest Rate Policy era.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Lalji could not overlook the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept on returning to it,\u201d he stated. \u201cIt just seems evident that agentic payments are going to be fundamentally the most critical issue [in the] sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lalji joined forces with Eric Wang, his co-founder at Ivella, and Walt Leung, a former engineering manager at Nextdoor, to establish Natural in 2025. The startup positions itself as an agent orchestration platform that empowers AI agents to transfer and manage funds. By incorporating Natural\u2019s framework, companies can enable their agents to perform autonomous payments, gather funds, and engage in transactions with both humans and other agents.<\/p>\n

Natural captured the interest of Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at venture capital firm Forerunner. Green, whose firm emphasizes consumer experiences and the future of commerce, led the company\u2019s $30 million Series A funding round, increasing its total capital to $40 million.<\/p>\n

Green was drawn to Natural\u2019s expansive goals. The startup is not solely concentrated on assisting agents with purchasing and checking out goods for consumers; it also aims to transform payment infrastructure, including how disputes are managed.<\/p>\n

While Natural has been in a beta phase until now, Lalji informed TechCrunch that the startup has made sufficient essential architectural choices to provide it with a \u201cpromising chance\u201d to compete against established players like Stripe, which is also striving to reconfigure payment rails for AI agents.<\/p>\n

Lalji anticipates that Natural\u2019s rapid development pace will enable it to surpass established behemoths and construct the payment infrastructure that will function as the financial foundation for AI agents. The startup\u2019s ambitions have attracted seasoned personnel who previously worked at fintech leaders Stripe, Ramp, and Square.<\/p>\n

Although Natural considers Stripe its primary adversary, numerous other startups, including DCVC-backed Skyfire Systems, are attempting to reinvent the payments foundation for AI agents using USD-backed stablecoins. While Natural intends to integrate stablecoins into its system, it is also developing support for traditional banking transactions.<\/p>\n

In the race to dominate this space, Lalji believes the entire market could experience substantial growth if transactions are conducted at computer speed instead of human speed. \u201cThe volume of payments that could happen globally might be two, three, or four orders of magnitude larger than the payments that occur today,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you make purchases through links in our articles, we may receive a small commission. This doesn\u2019t\u5f71\u54cd\u6211\u4eec\u7684\u7f16\u8f91\u72ec\u7acb\u6027.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3491165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3491164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3491164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3491164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3491164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3491164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}