Berlin's Pliant raises $80 million to open its B2B payments platform to AI agents

Pliant, a Berlin-based provider of corporate cards and business payments, announced on November 4 that it has closed an $80 million Series C round. Seaya Nova and Speedinvest led the round, which the company describes as oversubscribed. Illuminate Financial, Motive Ventures and Molten also took part. Tech Funding News notes that the amount is double the $40 million Series B Pliant raised in April 2025.

Payments that agents can trigger

The most notable part of the announcement concerns AI agents. Pliant says its API-first platform lets software agents reach regulated payment infrastructure, with permissions, spending controls and audit trails built in. Third-party agents, including assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT as well as companies' own automations, can connect through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open standard for linking AI models to external tools. The company also runs its own agents that handle recurring finance tasks for customers.

The pitch rests on regulation: an agent cannot hold a payments licence, so it needs a licensed firm behind it. Pliant holds a European e-money licence through its Finnish entity, Pliant Oy, works with regulated partners in the UK and US, and is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard. It says it issues business cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries. Seaya Nova's Vinoth Jayakumar argued in the release that licensed infrastructure matters more, not less, as AI changes how companies move money.

Growth and expansion plans

Founded in 2020 by Malte Rau, its chief executive, and Fabian Terner, Pliant says it recently passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and has doubled its business for three years in a row. It employs more than 300 people across eight offices. Its customers include travel and insurance companies, AI-native firms, banks and fintechs; Commerzbank, for instance, launched a digital business card on Pliant's platform in 2024, according to Tech Funding News.

The new money will go toward growth in the US and Canada, preparing entry into other international markets and speeding up its AI roadmap. These figures are self-reported and the company has not disclosed a valuation.

A crowded field

Pliant is not alone in chasing agent-driven payments. Tech Funding News points out that Stripe released agent-compatible payment tools in 2025 and that Visa and Mastercard have announced their own agent payment programmes. In spend management, US rival Ramp raised $750 million in June at a $44 billion valuation. How much payment volume AI agents will actually generate for business customers remains an open question.