Natural raises $30M to reinvent payments for AI agents — and take on Stripe

Natural has raised $30 million to build payment infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents, which currently rely on human authorization for transactions. The startup aims to replace traditional financial rails like credit cards and ACH with a system that allows autonomous agents to pay vendors, collect payments, and transact without human intervention. Founder Kahlil Lalji, who previously sold his banking startup Ivella to Earnin, sees agentic payments as a critical structural problem that will put Natural in direct competition with companies like Stripe.