Serial entrepreneurs shift focus to AI agentic commerce infrastructure
A report from CB Insights identifies 14 repeat founders building the payment rails and optimization tools necessary for autonomous AI shopping agents.
Industry veterans, including former Jet.com CEO Marc Lore and ChannelAdvisor co-founder Scot Wingo, are leading a new group of startups aimed at enabling AI agents to conduct consumer and enterprise commerce. Data from CB Insights profiles 14 founders across nine companies developing the infrastructure needed for agents to browse, recommend, and purchase products independently.
Financial infrastructure is a major catalyst for this sector, with Mastercard’s Agentic Commerce & Services program serving as a focal point for many of these startups, such as PayOS and Skyfire. These companies are building systems that allow AI agents to facilitate payments through existing card networks and tokenized identifiers, aiming to integrate with merchant sites without requiring site-wide redesigns.
The push toward agentic commerce focuses on high-frequency, predictable purchases like groceries and household essentials. Beyond payment processing, companies are developing specialized tools to ensure product catalogs are machine-readable, allowing AI assistants to discover and recommend products more effectively to the end user.