Natural Secures $30 Million to Transform Payments for AI Agents

New Delhi, India Jul 21, 2026 ALN: AI agents are starting to execute more sophisticated tasks, such as identifying vendors that can deliver freight, comparing prices, and messaging the vendor to organize a delivery. However, when it comes to making payments for shipments, human involvement is still necessary.

Today's financial sector relies on financial rails, the underlying infrastructure that facilitates the movement of money and information between banks, businesses, and consumers. These financial rails were designed for human-initiated transactions, not for autonomous AI agents. Traditional payment systems, like credit cards and ACH, require human authorization, which slows down the efficiency of agents designed to operate independently.

Natural, a new startup, is addressing this issue by completely redesigning the payment system. The company has recently raised $30 million in funding to pursue its ambitious plan, which positions it in direct competition with established giants like Stripe.

Kahlil Lalji, co-founder and CEO of Natural, recognized about a year ago that AI agents were evolving faster than the existing financial architecture could support. This architecture is inadequate for tasks such as autonomously paying vendors, collecting payments, or transacting with one another.

With a background in banking and finance, Lalji initially aimed to avoid the financial sector when launching his next startup. His previous venture, Ivella, a YC-backed banking product for couples, was sold in 2023 to Earnin, where he worked as an engineer for two years. Despite his reservations about the finance sector following the end of the Zero Interest Rate Policy era, he couldn't overlook the opportunity.

“I kept coming back to it,” he stated. “It just feels obvious that agentic payments are going to be structurally the most important problem in the space.”

Lalji partnered with Eric Wang, his co-founder at Ivella, and Walt Leung, a former engineering manager at Nextdoor, to establish Natural in 2025. The startup aims to serve as an agent orchestration layer that enables AI agents to move and store funds. By integrating Natural’s infrastructure, companies can empower their agents to make autonomous payments, collect funds, and transact with both humans and other agents.

Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at VC firm Forerunner, led Natural’s $30 million Series A funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to $40 million. Green’s firm focuses on consumer experiences and the future of commerce, and she was drawn to Natural’s broader ambitions.

Natural is not only focused on facilitating payments for agents but is also working to reinvent payment infrastructure, including the handling of disputed transactions. The ability to manage disputes efficiently is crucial for any payment system, as it directly impacts user trust and the overall experience of using the platform.

Although Natural has been operating in a beta trial, Lalji believes the startup has made enough critical architectural decisions to compete effectively with incumbents like Stripe, which is also working to redesign payment rails for AI agents. The competition in this space is fierce, as both startups and established companies recognize the potential for AI-driven payments to revolutionize the financial landscape.

Lalji is optimistic that Natural’s rapid development speed will allow it to outpace established competitors and create the payment infrastructure that will serve as the financial backbone for AI agents. The startup's mission has attracted senior talent from fintech giants like Stripe, Ramp, and Square. This influx of experienced professionals is expected to enhance Natural's capabilities and accelerate its growth trajectory.

While Natural considers Stripe its main competitor, other startups, including DCVC-backed Skyfire Systems, are also attempting to reinvent the payments backbone for AI agents using USD-backed stablecoins. Stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a stable value relative to fiat currencies, offer a potential solution to the volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies. Natural plans to incorporate stablecoins into its architecture while also supporting traditional bank payments, providing a versatile platform for various transaction types.

As the race to dominate this field intensifies, Lalji believes the entire market could experience significant growth if transactions occur at computer speed rather than human speed. “The number of payments that may occur in the world could be two, three, or four orders of magnitude greater than the number of payments that exist today,” he remarked. This potential for exponential growth underscores the importance of developing efficient and scalable payment systems that can handle the increasing volume of transactions driven by AI agents.

The implications of Natural's innovations extend beyond just improving payment efficiency; they also raise questions about the future of work and the role of humans in the financial ecosystem. As AI agents become more capable of handling complex tasks autonomously, the need for human oversight in payment processes may diminish. This shift could lead to significant changes in employment within the financial sector, as roles traditionally filled by human workers may become automated.

Moreover, the rise of AI-driven payments could alter consumer behavior and expectations. As businesses adopt these technologies, consumers may come to expect faster, more seamless payment experiences. This could prompt traditional financial institutions to adapt their services in order to remain competitive, potentially leading to a broader transformation of the financial landscape.

In conclusion, Natural's $30 million funding round marks a significant step in the evolution of payment systems tailored for AI agents. As the startup seeks to redefine the financial infrastructure to support autonomous transactions, it stands at the forefront of a movement that could reshape the future of commerce. The implications of these developments are vast, touching upon economic efficiency, employment, and consumer expectations, making Natural's progress a key area to watch in the coming years.