Sapiom has raised US$15 million in fresh funding to develop a financial infrastructure layer that allows autonomous AI agents to securely purchase and manage the digital tools they need to operate, as the rapid rise of agent-based artificial intelligence creates new challenges around payments and authentication.
The funding round was backed by Accel, underscoring growing investor interest in the emerging ecosystem that supports AI agents capable of acting independently across software platforms.
The startup is building a system designed to handle identity verification, authentication and micro-payments on behalf of AI agents, enabling them to pay for APIs, software services and digital tools without direct human intervention. As AI agents increasingly perform tasks such as booking services, running workflows or interacting with other systems, the lack of a native financial layer has become a major bottleneck.
Sapiom’s platform aims to solve this by allowing agents to transact securely, manage spending limits and comply with payment requirements set by service providers. The company says its infrastructure is designed to integrate with existing payment rails while adding safeguards to prevent misuse or unauthorized spending.
Industry analysts say the rise of autonomous agents is creating demand for entirely new categories of infrastructure, particularly around trust, security and payments. Unlike traditional software, AI agents may need to make frequent, low-value transactions across multiple services, making conventional billing and authentication systems inefficient or unsuitable.
With backing from Accel, Sapiom plans to accelerate product development and expand partnerships with AI platforms and tool providers. The company is positioning itself as a foundational layer for the agent economy, as businesses increasingly deploy AI systems that can operate, transact and adapt with minimal human oversight.
The funding comes amid intense competition among startups building tools and infrastructure for AI agents, a sector widely seen as one of the next major growth frontiers in artificial intelligence.
