San Francisco–based startup Sapiom has secured $15M in seed funding to build the financial infrastructure that allows AI agents to independently purchase and use software, APIs, data, and compute without human intervention.
As no-code and “vibe coding” tools make it easier for non-technical users to build applications from natural language prompts, a major bottleneck remains: connecting those apps to real-world services that require authentication and payments. Tasks like sending SMS messages, processing payments, or spinning up cloud infrastructure still demand manual setup, billing credentials, and API management.
Sapiom is tackling this problem by creating a secure financial layer that lets AI agents handle these transactions on their own. Instead of humans signing up for tools like Twilio or cloud services and wiring everything together, Sapiom enables agents to decide what services they need and pay for them automatically.
Backed by Accel and major AI investors
The seed round was led by Accel, with participation from Okta Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures. Investors see Sapiom as a critical enabler for the next generation of AI-powered applications that rely on dozens or even hundreds of paid services behind the scenes.
According to Accel, every API call, message sent, or compute resource spun up effectively represents a payment. Sapiom’s infrastructure is designed to manage these micro-transactions securely and at scale.
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From developer friction to autonomous execution
The platform removes the need for builders to manually configure billing and credentials for each external service their application relies on. For example, an app created with an AI coding tool can use SMS functionality without the creator ever opening a Twilio account or entering payment details. Instead, the company handles authentication, payments, and access in the background, with costs passed through transparently via the platform used to build the app.
This approach is particularly appealing for companies developing AI agents that are expected to operate autonomously, choosing tools and services dynamically based on the task at hand.
Enterprise-first approach to AI payments
While the long-term vision includes personal AI agents that can make consumer purchases, Sapiom is initially focused on enterprise use cases. The company believes businesses will be the first to trust AI systems with independent financial decision-making, especially where transactions are tied to productivity, infrastructure, and software usage rather than discretionary consumer spending.
The new funding will be used to expand the platform, onboard ecosystem partners, and position Sapiom as the default payments and purchasing layer for AI agents operating in production environments.
About Sapiom
Sapiom is a San Francisco–based fintech startup building the financial infrastructure that enables AI agents to securely purchase and access software, APIs, data, and compute. By automating authentication and payments, Sapiom removes backend complexity and allows AI-powered applications to operate autonomously at scale.
