Natural has raised $30 million to build payment infrastructure specifically designed for autonomous AI agents, aiming to bypass traditional financial rails that require human authorization. The startup plans to compete directly with Stripe by enabling machines to independently initiate, authorize, and settle transactions.
Background
As AI agents advance into complex multi-step workflows, the absence of machine-native payment infrastructure remains a critical bottleneck for full operational autonomy. The agentic AI ecosystem is rapidly drawing infrastructure capital as developers work to eliminate human-in-the-loop dependencies.
- Source
- TechCrunch
- Published
- Jul 21, 2026 at 03:11 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10