Natural has raised $30 million in fresh funding to build payment infrastructure for AI agents, putting it in direct competition with Stripe. The one-year-old startup wants to make payments work for autonomous software that can buy, sell, and transfer money without human approval.
The round was led by Forerunner founder and managing partner Kirsten Green, with continued participation from earlier backers. With this new investment, Natural’s total funding has crossed $40 million.
Founded in 2025 by Kahlil Lalji, Eric Wang, and Walt Leung, Natural is building what it calls an agent orchestration layer. This system lets AI agents move funds, store money, make payments, collect funds, and transact with both humans and other agents.
The startup is focused on solving a real problem. Traditional payment systems like cards and ACH were designed for people, not software agents acting at machine speed. Natural says its platform is built to remove that human delay and support faster autonomous transactions.
Natural is also planning to support both stablecoins and traditional bank payments. That gives it a wider approach than some other startups in the same space, while still aiming at the same goal: building the financial backbone for the next wave of AI commerce.
The company says it has already made key technical choices and wants to move quickly as the market for agentic AI grows. Its pitch is simple: if AI agents are going to handle work for users and businesses, they also need a payment system made for them.
FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions]
1. What is Natural building?
Natural is building payment infrastructure for AI agents so software can send, receive, and manage money without human approval.
2. How much funding did Natural raise?
Natural raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Forerunner, taking its total funding to over $40 million.
3. Why is Natural compared with Stripe?
Natural wants to handle payments for autonomous AI agents, while Stripe is also working on payment systems for the same fast-growing market.