Ilan Zerbib, former director of engineering for payments at Shopify, has launched a new startup called Sapiom, which aims to revolutionize how AI agents interact with technology. Sapiom recently closed $15 million in series A funding. Now, they are creating a financial layer that allows AI agents to autonomously and safely buy and use software, APIs, and computing resources. This innovation is designed to alleviate backend infrastructure challenges faced by non-technical creators and businesses, streamlining the process of integrating various services.
Zerbib’s vision is clear: he seeks to eliminate the traditional headaches associated with backend infrastructure for those who may not have technical expertise. Sapiom’s jam is the financial mechanism behind these transactions. Their vision is an AI agent based payment system where AI agents can automatically and seamlessly buy the services they require. Going forward, applications are going to be eating services that involve paid transactions. Amit Kumar, a partner at Accel, framed the problem this way. Agents today have a hard time easily accessing all of that information.
Underneath the creation of this layer of financing is the firm belief that AI by itself will not drive higher consumer spending. Zerbib agrees that as AI technologies continue to evolve, they need to be accompanied by solid financial structures for firms. His main jam is building things that help enterprises find better solutions to the problems they face. This represents a new strategic shift in how payment systems are beginning to align with AI capabilities.
Sapiom’s infrastructure handles all backend processes without a hitch. Users will no longer need to experience the pain of exit steps such as manually signing up or providing credit card information. This groundbreaking innovation could significantly streamline user experience. It goes after businesses that pursue “vibe-coding,” where they develop apps using no code or low code coding methods. Sapiom eliminates bottlenecks such as copying over API keys and complex payment configurations. This makes them an important and powerful player in the evolving landscape of AI-driven applications.
With a out-of-the-box thinking creative approach, Zerbib has caught the eye of industry moguls. About Amit Kumar Amit has either built or consulted for 15+ stealthy AI payments startups. He thinks Sapiom’s emphasis on financial solutions is exactly what the market is looking for. He stated, “If you really think about it, every API call is a payment. Every time you send a text message, it’s a payment. Every time you spin up a server for AWS, it’s a payment.”
Sapiom is looking forward to seeing its solution adopted broadly by vibe-coding companies and anyone else involved in creating and training AI agents. These agents have more recently been asked to further operate on their own, ordering rides, purchasing groceries or anything else online. This growing reality only further increases the need for a strong financial layer. The ambition is that users will eventually entrust these agents to make discrete financial decisions for them without friction or their involvement.
Sapiom is currently in the beginning stages of product development. Truly connecting these initiatives represents an opportunity to fundamentally change the way private industry and AI agents interact with technology and services. Zerbib and his team are on the cutting edge of developing that financial infrastructure. Such developments further advance the prospect of AI agents acting autonomously and competently in financial exchanges.