People without coding backgrounds are discovering that they will construct their very own custom apps using vibe coding — solutions like Lovable that turn plain-language descriptions into working code.
While these prompt-to-code tools can assist create nice prototypes, launching them into full-scale production (as this reporter recently discovered) may be tricky without determining connect the applying with external tech services, comparable to those who can send text messages via SMS, email, and process Stripe payments.
Ilan Zerbib, who spent five years as Shopify’s director of engineering for payments, is constructing an answer that would eliminate these back-end infrastructure headaches for nontechnical creators.
Last summer, Zerbib launched Sapiom, a startup developing the financial layer that permits AI agents to securely purchase and access software, APIs, data, and compute — essentially making a payment system that lets AI routinely buy the services it needs.
Each time an AI agent connects to an external tool like Twilio for SMS, it requires authentication and a micro-payment. Sapiom’s goal is to make this whole process seamless, letting the AI agent determine what to purchase and when without human intervention.
“In the longer term, apps are going to eat services which require payments. Immediately, there’s no easy way for agents to really access all of that,” said Amit Kumar, a partner at Accel.
Kumar has met with dozens of startups within the AI payments space, but he believes Zerbib’s deal with the financial layer for enterprises, relatively than consumers, is what’s truly needed to make AI agents work. That’s why Accel is leading Sapiom’s $15 million seed round, with participation from Okta Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures.
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“In the event you really give it some thought, every API call is a payment. Each time you send a text message, it’s a payment. Each time you spin up a server for AWS, it’s a payment,” Kumar told TechCrunch.
While it’s still early days for Sapiom, the startup hopes that its infrastructure solution will probably be adopted by vibe-coding firms and other firms creating AI agents that can eventually be tasked with doing many things on their very own.
For instance, anyone who has vibe-coded an app with SMS capabilities won’t must manually enroll for Twilio, add a bank card, and duplicate an API key into their code. As a substitute, Sapiom handles all of that within the background, and the person constructing the micro-app will probably be charged for Twilio’s services as a pass-through fee by Lovable, Bolt, or one other vibe-coding platform.
While Sapiom is currently focused on B2B solutions, its technology could eventually empower personal AI agents to handle consumer transactions. The expectation is that individuals will at some point trust agents to make independent financial decisions, comparable to ordering an Uber or shopping on Amazon. While that future is exciting, Zerbib believes that AI won’t magically make people buy more things, which is why he’s specializing in creating financial layers for businesses as a substitute.