Pliant, a global fintech company providing modular business payment solutions, has raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest. The round also included participation from Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners and Molten Ventures.
The company will use the funding to expand its operations in the United States and Canada, prepare for entry into additional international markets and accelerate its artificial intelligence (AI) development.
The investment comes after Pliant doubled its business for three consecutive years and surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company employs more than 300 people across eight offices and processes billions of dollars in annual payment volume for businesses and partners across Europe and North America.
Building Payment Infrastructure for AI Agents
Pliant is developing its platform for a business environment where AI agents increasingly handle financial workflows. Its own AI agents help customers automate recurring finance tasks, while third-party agents, including tools such as Claude and ChatGPT, can connect to Pliant through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
This allows businesses to integrate payment workflows into their AI-powered processes. The new funding will help Pliant expand its capabilities in agentic payments and financial automation.
“We built Pliant as an API-first, modular B2B payments platform from day one, and we have adopted AI deeply, in our product and in how we run the company,” said Malte Rau, CEO and co-founder of Pliant. “Whether an established business wants AI to automate its payment processes with the right guardrails, or an AI-native company needs a licensed partner that moves as fast as it does, Pliant is built for that. This investment will help us take that foundation further, opening more of our infrastructure directly to AI agents and expanding into new markets as we build the payment platform for the next generation of businesses.”
“Every wave of software has made the application layer cheaper and the infrastructure underneath more valuable, and AI is no exception,” said Vinoth Jayakumar, General Partner at Seaya Nova. “When agents move money, someone still has to be licensed, auditable and liable, and that is the layer Pliant owns. Malte, Fabian and the team have built principal-member card issuing, payment accounts and FX into a single modular platform that businesses, banks and now AI agents can build on. We back infrastructure companies with network effects in regulated markets, and Pliant is a textbook example. We are proud to lead this round and support the team’s expansion across North America and into new markets.”
Modular B2B Payment Solutions
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant offers a modular B2B payments platform that combines commercial card issuing, payment accounts, foreign exchange (FX) and spend management.
Businesses across travel, e-commerce, insurance and AI-native technology use the platform to manage payment operations. Banks, fintech companies and software platforms can also use Pliant’s infrastructure to develop their own commercial payment products.
Its API-first platform allows AI agents and applications to access regulated payment infrastructure with permissions, controls and auditability built in.
Pliant is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard. It issues commercial cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries through its European e-money license and regulated partners in the UK and US.
Funding to Support International Growth
Pliant plans to use its $80 million Series C funding to strengthen its North American presence and expand into additional markets. The company will also invest in its AI roadmap as businesses explore automated payment systems and AI-driven financial operations.
Seaya Nova is backed by the European Investment Fund through the European Tech Champions Initiative, alongside other institutional investors.
The latest investment will support Pliant’s efforts to scale its commercial payment infrastructure and serve businesses, fintechs and AI-powered applications across international markets.
