This startup gives AI agents access to frictionless finance

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

AI is thinking, creating, and solving complex problems — but it’s not paying. Despite being the next frontier of AI, autonomous agents are held back by financial systems not designed for machines.

Singapore-based Neural Payments, which is a startup backed by Antler, hopes to bridge that gap.

😟 Problem

AI agents promise to transform industries, but their potential is limited without the ability to make payments without human oversight:

• Machines lack government-issued IDs, creating roadblocks using traditional banking rails.
• Current financial systems don’t support instant micropayments, which AI systems commonly require.
• Transactions remain siloed in closed, expensive systems.
• Almost every transaction requires human intervention, defeating the purpose of AI agents.

💡 Solution

Neural Payments seeks to build a financial system tailored to AI and machine operations, encompassing:

• An SDK allowing individuals, businesses, or machines to send and receive payments via basic HTTP web requests,
• digital identity verification of non-human agents, and
• integrations with stablecoins and banks.

Other key features include:

• User-defined spending rules and limits for agents
• Immutable transaction history

For example, an AI agent for researching investment trends can use Neural Payments to autonomously pay for information, access APIs, and hire services.

📊 Market Size

• 67% of businesses have deployed autonomous systems but face payments-related limitations.
• A Deloitte survey found that 89% of businesses require secure, AI-adapted transaction infrastructures.

🤝 Team

The team combines expertise in fintech, AI, and scaling startups:

• Dinara Abdizhaparova (CEO): Had a founding role in Uzbekistan’s first unicorn, Uzum.
• Shankar Satish (CTO): 16 years of AI/ML and engineering experience, with leadership roles at companies like Apple, Temasek, and Manulife.

🛞 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials