Natural has raised a $30 million Series A led by Forerunner’s Kirsten Green just 193 days after launch, bringing total funding to more than $40 million in under a year.
CEO Kahlil Lalji is positioning Natural as a direct Stripe rival — but with AI agents, not humans, as the customer — betting autonomous systems will become the world’s most important financial actors.
The agentic AI payments market is projected to grow from $7 billion to $93 billion by 2032 as AI agents begin executing purchases, invoices, and transfers without human approval.
At 13, Kahlil Lalji edited esports videos professionally. At 18, he ran brand strategy for the internet’s biggest creators. At 21, he signed a musician to Columbia Records. He later co-founded YC-backed fintech startup Ivella before joining EarnIn in 2024. None of that is the most interesting thing about him right now. The most interesting thing is that he just raised a $30 million Series A for a fintech company that is 193 days old — in one of the hardest categories in venture capital to raise money in.
Natural, the San Francisco-based payments infrastructure startup Lalji co-founded alongside Eric Wang and Walt Leung 342 days ago, has closed a $30 million Series A led by Kirsten Green at Forerunner Ventures, with participation from Human Capital, Abstract, Wischoff Ventures, and angel investors including Akshay Kothari of Notion, Pete Koomen of Y Combinator, Art Levy of Brex, and Logan and Jake Paul’s Antifund. Total funding now exceeds $40 million. The company has 17 employees and is hiring across every function.
