Manny Medina, founder of the sales automation platform Outreach, is making waves with his new London-based startup, Paid, which has closed an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed round led by Lightspeed. Including a €10 million pre-seed round raised in March, Paid has already secured $33.3 million in funding, with a reported valuation exceeding $100 million despite not yet reaching Series A.
Paid emerged from stealth in March, offering a novel approach in the AI agentic ecosystem. Unlike typical AI startups, Paid does not provide agents. Instead, it provides agent makers with a platform to charge customers based on the value their AI agents deliver, a model often referred to as results-based billing. Medina explains that Paid helps agent makers “start charging for points of margin saved by their customers.”
This approach represents a new paradigm for software monetization in the AI era, moving beyond per-user SaaS fees or traditional client/server licensing. Traditional pricing models are often unworkable because agent makers also incur costs for model usage and cloud infrastructure. Unlimited use could drive startups into losses. Medina emphasizes, “If you’re a quiet agent, you don’t get paid. You need an infrastructure that allows the agent to charge for the additional work that the agent is doing.”
Results-based billing allows agents to earn based on the actual value generated, rather than generic usage metrics. Charging a flat monthly fee or limited credits can be risky, as companies are reluctant to pay for AI output that lacks meaningful results. A recent MIT study found that only 5% of enterprise AI projects are successfully deployed, highlighting the challenges in demonstrating value.
Paid has already begun onboarding early customers, including Artisan, a viral sales automation startup, and ERP vendor IFS. The company is also attracting SaaS providers looking to leverage AI agents for growth initiatives. Lightspeed partner Alexander Schmitt noted, “The core of that problem is that no one can really attach value to what agents are doing today,” and added that Paid’s approach is unique in the current market.
New investor FUSE and existing backer EQT Ventures also participated in the round. As AI adoption grows, Paid’s results-based model positions the startup to help agentic AI enter the workforce at scale, addressing one of the sector’s most persistent monetization challenges.
