Berlin Fintech Pliant Raises $80M Series C from Seaya Nova and Speedinvest to Build AI Agent Payment Infrastructure
Pliant secured $80M in Series C funding, surpassing $100M ARR, to expand its licensed payment rails for AI agents.
Berlin-based B2B payments platform Pliant has closed an $80 million Series C funding round led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest, according to a report by Tech Funding News. The oversubscribed round also saw participation from existing investors Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners, and Molten Ventures. The new capital will support Pliant's expansion into the US and Canada, entry into additional international markets, and the development of what the company calls "agentic payments."
Founded in 2020 by Malte Rau and Fabian Terner, Pliant provides commercial card services, payment accounts, and spend management. The company states that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has now surpassed the $100 million mark. This round doubles the size of Pliant's $40 million Series B completed in April 2025. Based on the reporter's calculations, Pliant's total equity funding now exceeds $180 million.
Pliant's strategic focus is integrating AI software agents with its licensed payment infrastructure. The company argues that as external assistants like Claude or ChatGPT, as well as in-house agents, increasingly handle corporate finance tasks, they require connections to regulated payment systems via open standards such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP), rather than just API integrations. As a principal member of Visa and Mastercard operating under a European e-money license, Pliant positions itself as the compliant backend for these autonomous transactions.
This move highlights the growing intersection of AI and regulated financial services. Grand View Research estimates the agentic commerce market at $5.71 billion in 2025, projected to reach $65.47 billion by 2033. However, Pliant faces competition from larger, better-funded players like Ramp (valued at $44 billion) and Brex (acquired by Capital One). While AI agent payments are still in their early stages, Pliant aims to capture the market by providing the necessary licensed infrastructure for this emerging workflow.