Paid, a company dedicated to establishing the foundational infrastructure for the emerging AI agent economy, has successfully concluded an oversubscribed Seed funding round, raising $21.6 million. This significant investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with new participation from FUSE and continued support from existing investor EQT Ventures. This funding brings the company’s total funding to $33.3 million, signaling strong investor confidence in its mission.
The newly acquired funding will be strategically deployed to advance Paid’s objective of equipping AI Agent builders. This includes a wide spectrum of users, from independent entrepreneurs to large Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, with the necessary tools to rapidly expand their operations by effectively monetizing the activities of their AI agents. The company recognizes a critical need for new economic infrastructure as the global economy undergoes a fundamental transformation driven by artificial intelligence.
Industry projections anticipate that autonomous AI agents will contribute an estimated $19.9 trillion to the global economy by the year 2030. This monumental shift is fundamentally altering how work is performed across various sectors. These advanced digital workers are already automating complex workflows and are increasingly taking over functions traditionally handled by entire human departments. The traditional “per-seat” licensing model, which has long been the standard in enterprise software, is proving to be ill-suited for this new agent-driven era. This outdated model creates significant challenges for companies attempting to accurately price, track, and monetize the value generated by their digital workforce. Without a robust and adaptable economic framework, the momentum and potential of the AI agent revolution could be substantially hindered.
The company’s CEO and Founder, Manny Medina, a well-regarded figure within the SaaS industry and former CEO of Outreach, has highlighted that the industry is experiencing a profound inflection point. He draws a comparison to the historical shift from on-premise software to cloud-based solutions, emphasizing the magnitude of the current transformation. While businesses increasingly view AI agents as a vital pathway to sustainable growth, the existing technological infrastructure was not originally designed for an agent-first world. The core issue, as identified by Medina, is that the per-seat model becomes illogical when the very purpose of the software is to reduce or eliminate human roles. Paid’s overarching goal is to pioneer an entirely new economic model that will serve as the financial backbone for the future AI agent economy, thereby assisting businesses in successfully navigating this crucial transition.
Paid’s platform is presented as the first comprehensive business system specifically engineered to support AI agent work. It provides the essential “economic rails” that enable a smooth and successful transition from a traditional SaaS model to an agent-based operational framework. This innovative system directly addresses five critical operational areas where conventional business software typically falls short.
Firstly, the platform introduces Customer Value Proofs, a feature designed to make the work performed by AI agents visible and quantifiable for clients. This allows companies to quickly launch branded Return on Investment portals, which are instrumental in driving customer renewals. Secondly, it facilitates Custom Pricing, empowering companies with the ability to instantly deploy outcome- and value-based pricing models. This includes the implementation of complex structures such as success fees and revenue sharing arrangements. Thirdly, the platform supports Outcome-Based and Hybrid Models, enabling businesses to move beyond simplistic subscriptions to dynamically capture value as it is generated by their AI agents. Fourthly, it offers True Cost Tracking, providing businesses with real-time monitoring of agent costs and profit margins, a capability essential for scaling profitability effectively. Finally, Paid’s platform provides AI Business Intelligence through intuitive dashboards and sophisticated scenario planning tools, offering complete financial visibility in an economy increasingly dominated by autonomous agents.
Early adopters of the Paid platform are already reporting significant improvements in their key business metrics. Customers, including prominent names such as IFS and Artisan, have reported substantial increases in revenue, enhanced customer retention rates, and accelerated sales cycles after integrating Paid’s monetization infrastructure for their AI agents. For instance, some customers have observed revenue growth ranging from 20% to 40% within just six months of implementing the platform. The Paid platform is currently available to developers at no cost and features native integration with a wide array of popular tools and frameworks. These include Vercel, ElevenLabs, Retell, as well as leading agent frameworks like AI SDK, n8n, LangChain, and LlamaIndex.
Paid was founded on the fundamental principle that existing business systems were not built to accommodate the unique demands of the age of autonomous AI. The company is backed by a distinguished group of investors, including Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, EQT Ventures, and FUSE. Paid remains committed to accelerating the AI agent revolution by providing the essential economic infrastructure necessary for its widespread adoption and success.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re witnessing the biggest inflection point in SaaS since the transition from on-premise to cloud. Companies are turning to AI agents as their path back to sustainable growth, but today’s infrastructure wasn’t built for an agent-first world. The traditional ‘per seat’ model of paying for software doesn’t make sense when the software is eliminating seats. We need an entirely new model. With Paid, we’re building the foundation that will power the AI agent economy and help companies navigate this critical transition.”
Manny Medina, CEO and Founder of Paid
“The AI era demands a fundamental rethinking of how software creates and captures value. As AI agents become an important form of digital labor, Paid’s infrastructure will be as essential as payment rails were for e-commerce. They’re not just building tools, they’re architecting the economic foundation for the next era of work.”
Alexander Schmitt, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
“Paid is an instrumental element in how we are scaling our AI Agent platform offering to our partners and customers. With Paid, we are able to bring agentic AI solutions into Industrial verticals at an accelerated pace.”
Mark Moffat, CEO of IFS
“Paid quantified the outcomes we delivered and gave us the confidence to price on results. Their platform turned promises into deals won and customers who stay longer.”
Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, CEO and Cofounder of Artisan
