Startup News

Paid, the innovative AI billing startup founded by Manny Medina, has made headlines by closing an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. With a €10 million pre-seed secured earlier this year, the London-based company has raised a total of $33.3 million. According to insiders, the startup’s valuation has already surpassed $100 million, a remarkable milestone for a company still pre-Series A. What Makes Paid Different? – Results-Based Billing for AI Unlike traditional SaaS companies or AI platforms, Paid doesn’t create AI agents itself. Instead, it provides the infrastructure for “results-based billing”—a new model where AI agents are billed according to the value they deliver, not just their usage. This approach is designed for the AI era, where per-user fees or unlimited subscriptions no longer work. Many AI startups pay significant costs to cloud and model providers, making flat pricing models unprofitable. Results-based billing allows companies to charge for measurable outcomes, such as savings or efficiency gains, ensuring customers only pay for real, value-driven results. Founder Manny Medina, best known for creating Outreach (valued at $4.4 billion), explained it this way: “If you’re a quiet agent, you don’t get paid. You need an infrastructure that charges for the actual work the agent is doing.” Why Traditional AI Pricing Models Fail The demand for a new billing model is clear. Most enterprise AI projects fail to prove their worth—MIT research shows that 95% of corporate AI pilots generate no real value, with only 5% moving to production. Businesses don’t want to spend on AI that produces “slop,” such as endless low-quality emails or outputs that bring no tangible benefit. Paid solves this by ensuring AI providers can prove ROI and tie billing directly to performance-based results. Early Customers and Adoption Despite being in its early stages, Paid has already attracted strong interest. Its customers include: This shows Paid’s potential to scale across both fast-growing startups and established enterprise players in the SaaS ecosystem. Investor Confidence in Paid’s Vision The seed round was led by Lightspeed, with participation from FUSE and existing investor EQT Ventures. Alexander Schmitt, a partner at Lightspeed, said the firm has invested over $2.5 billion in AI infrastructure and applications in the past three years but noted that most AI pilots fail. He believes Paid’s unique results-based billing model could unlock large-scale adoption: “The core of the problem is that no one can really attach value to what agents are doing today. Paid is solving that.” A Shift in How AI Gets Paid With strong funding, early customers, and a proven founder, Paid is poised to set a new standard in AI billing models. As businesses demand accountability and real ROI from their AI tools, results-based billing could replace outdated SaaS-style subscriptions. For Manny Medina, the message is clear:The future of AI isn’t just about building smarter agents—it’s about proving their value.