Mitchell Jones’ Lava raises $5.8M to Build Digital Wallets for the Agent-Native Economy

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Published by Stephen Oluwadara at August 7, 2025

Meet Lava Payments

Lava was founded by Mitchell Jones earlier in 2025 after he left his earlier Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, Lendtable. The AI-powered solution is a digital wallet that lets merchants use usage credits to facilitate transactions.

The idea for the startup came to Jones as he began to experiment with AI after he left Lendtable. While trying to use an AI app to build what he thought was simple, he spent more than $400 trying to develop the basic form-filling agent.

“I kept running into the same issue,” he said to TechCrunch. “I was using the same underlying models and tools again and again, but through different wrappers or platforms.” And each time, he had to start a new subscription, re-authenticate, and pay separately, “even though I was already paying for access to the core model.”

“That felt fundamentally broken,” he continued. “I didn’t want to keep rebuying access to the same thing under a different wrapper. What I wanted was a single wallet, one set of credits, and the ability to move between tools and providers without starting over every time so I could pay for what I was using.”

How Does it Work

Consequently, he saw the potential to build out a system that would make using AI and agent payments simpler and more developer-friendly. Lava Payments aims to take on payment giants by building a solution for the modern web where AI agents now handle transactions for their customers.

The concept is that a single set of credits usable across multiple merchants and services enables autonomous agents to make payments seamlessly without human intervention. Here’s how it works: merchants can enable the Lava wallet for their customers, who can then upload credits. Once funded, customers can use those credits at any merchant that accepts Lava, as well as with foundational models like GPT and Claude, on a pay-as-you-go basis, according to Jones.

Instead of needing separate payments for each tool, users buy a single credit balance that agents can charge as they complete tasks. “Without Lava, agents can’t move smoothly through the internet because they constantly get blocked when it comes time to pay,” Jones said, per TechCrunch. This streamlined approach enables seamless transactions and efficient task completion.

How Lava’s New Funding Will Be Used

Jones credited his connection with lead investors to a high school friendship with Will McKelvey, now an investor at Lerer Hippeau. McKelvey had been tracking Jones’ career and had long expressed interest in collaborating – Lava Payments became that opportunity. Other participating investors included Harlem Capital, Streamlined Ventures, and Westbound.

The funding will enable Lava to enhance its platform, prioritizing seamless merchant integration and building a robust infrastructure for agent-driven transactions. By tackling the unique challenges of this emerging economic model, Lava aims to establish itself as a fintech leader, rivaling traditional payment giants.

Industry experts view Lava’s vision as a timely response to the rapid evolution of digital economies. As AI agents increasingly handle tasks from customer service to complex transactions, Lava’s solution could transform how businesses operate in a hyper-connected, automated landscape.

Main Image: Mitchell Jone. Image Credit: JJ Jumoc-Casas