Lava, a new payments platform founded and designed by Mitchell Jones, has raised $5.8 million in a seed round. A first, Lerer Hippeau led this colorful, new initiative. We’re looking to raise about $1 million of this money in order to build these digital wallets. Jones refers to this complex but radical new approach as the “agent-native economy.” This experimental platform is part of an effort to better empower everyday users making their first steps into the exciting but confusing new universe of AI tools and services.
Mitchell Jones, the founder of the Y Combinator – backed fintech startup Lendtable, began the journey to founding Lava by building a solution for his family. After leaving Lendtable, he decided to start experimenting with emerging AI technologies. He envisions Lava as an “invisible layer that kind of powers the AI web,” positioning it as a crucial component in the future of digital transactions.
That funding round has lured some big-name investors, already including Will McKelvey, an investor at Lerer Hippeau. McKelvey, who has long tracked Jones’ career, recognized the chance to work together on this innovative prospect. Their story began when, as teens in high school, they built a deep-rooted friendship with one another. Today, that bond has blossomed into a life and career affirming professional partnership.
Lava’s fintech platform allows merchants to use newly unlocked usage credits to make purchases. Users can buy a single use credit, which AI agents can use to take all kinds of actions. This new mechanism is an important part of Jones’ larger plan to Lava. It liberates users from being locked into one tool or provider, so they don’t have to go back to square one every time they want to switch.
Jones’ memoir takes readers back to his childhood in Dayton, Ohio. Though his parents were poor, they instilled in him the value of hard work and education. He is convinced that these are the principles that have guided him throughout his career. He states, “You know, a lot of the things that most people are told… the best way to get ahead was to work hard, save money, and get a good education.”
The mission behind Lava is clear. Jones’ overarching mission is to democratize access to innovation in AI technologies. He makes certain that all people, no matter their socio-economic status, have access to these tools. He emphasizes this commitment by saying, “We want to make sure that AI is something that can be used by every single person, even a kid from Dayton, like myself.”
In his quest for innovation, Jones faced adversity that fueled his motivation to develop Lava. “I just kept coming up against the same problem,” he said. He saw the potential for a platform to power transactions with speed and security, which was more important than ever in our growing digital environment.
Now armed with its Series A funding, Lava is positioned to take a big role in the still-changing world of digital payments. The firm has offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. It’s focused on developing a conversational interface to allow frictionless transactions between AI agents and human users.
Mitchell Jones concludes with a strong vision for the future: “We should be enabling agents to move, transact, and build without friction.” This idea really captures Lava’s mission to make doing business easier in the growing agent-native economy.
