\n<\/p>\n
A new startup, Lava Payments<\/a>, aims to take on payment giants by building a solution for the modern web where AI agents now handle transactions for their customers. The idea came to founder Mitchell Jones after he left his earlier Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, Lendtable, as he began to experiment with AI.<\/p>\n He saw the potential to build out a system that would make using AI and agent payments simpler and more developer-friendly. While experimenting with an AI app and trying to build what he thought was something simple, he realized he quickly spent more than $400 trying to build a basic form-filling agent.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept running into the same issue,\u201d he told TechCrunch. \u201cI was using the same underlying models and tools again and again, but through different wrappers or platforms.\u201d And each time, he had to start a new subscription, re-authenticate, and pay separately, \u201ceven though I was already paying for access to the core model.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThat felt fundamentally broken,\u201d he continued. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to keep rebuying access to the same thing under a different wrapper. What I wanted was a single wallet, one set of credits, and the ability to move between tools and providers without starting over every time so I could pay for what I was using.\u201d<\/p>\n He decided to launch Lava Payments as a solution.<\/p>\n Lava is a digital wallet that lets merchants use usage credits to facilitate transactions. <\/p>\n The idea is that one set of credits working across merchants and services makes it easier for autonomous agents to make payments without needing human intervention. It works like this: A merchant can enable the Lava wallet for their customers to use and upload (credits) money to. Once a customer does that, they can take that money and use it at any merchant that also accepts Lava and any of the foundational models, like GPT and Claude, on a \u201cpay as you go basis,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n So, rather than having to pay for each tool, a user buys a one-time usage credit that AI agents can simply charge as they perform various tasks. No more asking the user to approve transaction after transaction.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout Lava, agents can\u2019t move smoothly through the internet because they constantly get blocked when it comes time to pay,\u201d he said. He used Google as an example, saying every time a person opens Google Maps, they don\u2019t have to pay Google for that map, as they\u2019ve already paid Verizon and AT&T to access the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the startup announced a $5.8 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau.\u00a0<\/p>\n Others in this space include startups like Metronome.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe see the world as very interconnected,\u201d Jones said about what makes his product different. \u201cWhat we\u2019re really focused on is building [for the] agent-native economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Born to a working family in Dayton, Ohio, Jones said his parents always told him the best way to get ahead was to work hard, save money, and get a good education.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, a lot of the things that most people are told,\u201d he recalled, when speaking with TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jones took that advice to heart. He got a good education (Yale), held some good jobs (Goldman, Meta), and then founded some companies (the fintechs Parable and Lendtable, the latter of which was YC S20).\u00a0<\/p>\n