Berlin fintech Pliant has raised $80 million in a Series C round led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest. Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners and Molten Ventures also took part.
The round was oversubscribed. The company plans to use the funding to expand in the United States and Canada, prepare to enter other markets, and further develop its AI capabilities. Pliant offers modular B2B payment tools, including commercial card issuing, payment accounts, foreign exchange, and spend management.
The raise comes after three consecutive years of business growth, during which Pliant doubled its business each year. It also follows shortly after the company passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Pliant has more than 300 employees across eight offices and processes billions of dollars in payments annually for customers and partners in Europe and North America.
Its clients include travel and insurance companies, AI-native firms, and banks, fintechs, and software platforms that use Pliant’s infrastructure to run their commercial payment products.
Pliant is building its platform for a future in which AI agents play a larger role in business payments. Its agents help customers automate recurring finance tasks. Third-party agents, from tools such as Claude and ChatGPT to companies’ own AI automations, can connect through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and integrate payment workflows into broader business processes. The new funding will help Pliant expand these capabilities.
“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. “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.”
Vinoth Jayakumar, general partner at Seaya Nova, said that licensed infrastructure behind commercial payments becomes even more important as AI changes how businesses move money. He added that Pliant’s team is well positioned to serve a new generation of businesses in Europe, North America, and other markets.
Founded in 2020, Pliant is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard. It issues commercial cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries under its European e-money license. The company also holds its electronic money institution authorization in the U.K. and works with regulated partners in other markets, including the U.S.
