People with no coding background find it easy to build own custom app using so-called vibe coding – a solution like Lovable that turns plain language descriptions into usable code.
While this quick-to-code tool can help create a good prototype, rolling it out to full-scale production (as this reporter discovered) can be difficult without understanding how to connect the app with external technology services, such as those that can send text messages via SMS, email, and Stripe payment processing.
Ilan Zerbib, who spent five years as Shopify’s director of payments engineering, created a solution that takes these backend infrastructure headaches away for non-technical creators.
Last summer, Zerbib launched Sapiomthe startup is developing a financial layer that allows AI agents to securely purchase and access software, APIs, data, and computing — essentially creating a payment system that allows AI to automatically purchase the services it needs.
Each AI agent connects to external tools like Twilio for SMS, requiring authentication and micropayments.. Sapiom’s goal is to make this whole process seamless, allowing AI agents to decide what to buy and when without human intervention.
“In the future, applications will use services that require payment. Currently, there is no easy way for agents to access everything,” said Amit Kumar, partner at Accel.
Kumar has met with dozens of startups in the AI payments space, but he believes Zerbib’s focus on the financial layer for companies, rather than consumers, is what’s needed to make AI agents work. That’s why Accel led Sapiom’s $15 million seed round, with participation from Okta Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, and Coinbase Ventures.
Techcrunch event
Boston, MA
|
June 23, 2026
“If you really think about it, every API call is a payment. Every time you send a text message, it’s a payment. Every time you spin up a server for AWS, it’s a payment,” Kumar told TechCrunch.
While it’s early days for Sapiom, the startup hopes its infrastructure solution will be adopted by vibe-coding companies and other companies creating AI agents that will eventually be tasked with doing many things on their own.
For example, anyone who vibe-coded an app with SMS capabilities wouldn’t have to manually register Twilio, add a credit card, and copy the API key into the code. Instead, Sapiom handles all of that in the background, and people building microapps will be billed for Twilio services as pass-through fees by Lovable, Bolt, or other vibe-coding platforms.
While Sapiom is currently focused on B2B solutions, the technology could eventually empower personal AI agents to handle consumer transactions. The hope is that individuals will trust agents to make independent financial decisions, such as ordering an Uber or shopping on Amazon. While the future is exciting, Zerbib believes that AI won’t make people buy more things, so he’s focused on creating a financial layer for businesses.