Individuals without programming experience are finding they can develop personalized applications through "vibe coding"—platforms such as Lovable that transform simple written descriptions into functional code. Although these prompt-based tools can produce appealing prototypes, scaling them to full production—as one recent firsthand account illustrated—often presents challenges when integrating external technical services. These might include systems for sending SMS messages, handling email, or processing payments through Stripe.

Ilan Zerbib, formerly Shopify’s director of engineering for payments over five years, is working on a solution designed to remove these backend infrastructure hurdles for non-technical creators. In the summer of last year, Zerbib introduced Sapiom, a startup that is constructing a financial layer enabling AI agents to securely purchase and access software, APIs, data, and computing resources. In essence, it establishes a payment framework that allows AI to autonomously acquire the services it requires.

Each time an AI agent interacts with an external tool like Twilio for SMS, it must authenticate and execute a micro-payment. Sapiom aims to streamline this entire procedure, empowering the AI agent to independently determine what to purchase and when. “In the future, applications will utilize services that necessitate payments. Currently, there isn’t a straightforward method for agents to access all of these resources,” noted Amit Kumar, a partner at Accel.

Kumar has engaged with numerous startups in the AI payments sector but contends that Zerbib’s emphasis on enterprise financial infrastructure, rather than consumer-facing solutions, is essential for making AI agents operational. This perspective led Accel to spearhead Sapiom’s $15 million seed funding round, which includes contributions from Okta Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures.

“When you consider it, every API call represents a payment. Each text message sent incurs a cost,” Kumar added. Although Sapiom is in its early stages, the startup anticipates that its infrastructure will be embraced by vibe-coding firms and other companies developing AI agents destined to perform a variety of autonomous tasks.

For instance, someone who builds an app with SMS functionality through vibe coding would no longer need to manually register for Twilio, input credit card details, or embed an API key into their code. Instead, Sapiom manages all these steps behind the scenes, with the micro-app creator being billed for Twilio’s services as a pass-through charge via Lovable, Bolt, or another vibe-coding platform.

While Sapiom’s current focus is on business-to-business solutions, its technology could eventually enable personal AI agents to manage consumer transactions. The vision is that individuals will someday delegate financial decisions—like booking an Uber or making Amazon purchases—to trusted autonomous agents.

Despite the excitement surrounding such prospects, Zerbib maintains that AI will not simply drive increased consumer spending. This belief underpins his decision to concentrate on building financial layers for the enterprise sector.