Tether has led a $15 million Series A funding round for New York-based Mural, supporting the financial technology company’s development of payment infrastructure for businesses and artificial intelligence agents.
Summary
- Tether led Mural’s $15 million Series A, bringing the New York startup’s total funding to $28 million.
- North Island Ventures and existing investors participated, with proceeds allocated to payment infrastructure and international expansion.
- Mural has processed $2.1 billion in payments across 128 countries since launching its API in 2025.
- The platform connects traditional banking, stablecoins and compliance tools to support payments authorized for AI agents.
- Tether recently backed AIsa and Tenstorrent as part of its investments in AI technology.
According to Mural’s October 20 announcement, North Island Ventures and existing investors participated in the financing, bringing its total capital raised to $28 million.
Tether backs Mural as total funding reaches $28 million
Mural plans to use the investment to expand internationally and develop the banking, payment and compliance services needed for software agents to conduct financial transactions.
Founded in 2022 by former Palantir engineers Sinclair Toffa and Chris Fernandes, the company provides infrastructure that businesses use to manage accounts, payment instructions, identity verification and regulatory requirements across banking networks and blockchains.
Its customers include global payroll provider Deel, browser developer Opera and financial technology platform Axexo. Through Mural’s system, businesses can offer accounts holding dollars, local currencies and stablecoins without managing separate financial infrastructure for each payment method.
The company reported processing $2.1 billion in payments for users across 128 countries since introducing its application programming interface in 2025. Payment volume recorded so far in 2026 is nearly six times its total for 2025.
Mural has not disclosed the valuation attached to the latest funding round. Fortune reported that the company previously raised $5 million in seed financing in 2022, followed by additional capital from existing backers.
The financing gives Mural fresh capital to develop services for AI software capable of initiating transactions under instructions established by businesses.
“The economy is about to gain 10 billion new participants, and none of them are human,” Mural CEO Sinclair Toffa said in the announcement.
Toffa described the company’s next stage as extending financial infrastructure beyond businesses and individuals to autonomous software operating on their behalf.
Mural develops payment controls for AI agents
Mural’s infrastructure allows companies to determine how software agents access accounts and execute transactions.
Its account management system includes spending limits, approved counterparties and additional authorization requirements for payments exceeding established thresholds.
For businesses deploying AI agents, the controls determine which transactions automated systems can initiate and which payments require further approval.
The arrangement is designed to work across banking services, payment networks and blockchain systems, giving businesses a consolidated record of financial activity.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino identified Mural’s experience connecting enterprise software with stablecoin payment services as a major consideration behind the investment.
“As agents start moving money, that connection to the banks, payment networks and compliance systems the world still runs on becomes essential,” Ardoino said.
Mural’s founders developed their approach while working at Palantir, where they helped large companies connect software systems performing different functions.
The company now applies a similar model to financial services, with engineers working directly alongside customers to establish integrations across individual markets.
Olek Shtanoprud, Deel’s head of payments, credited the startup’s engineers for their understanding of local payment conditions and their work alongside the payroll company’s team in Colombia.
Mural Technologies is not itself a bank. Its payment services are provided through Mural Networks, a FinCEN-registered money services business, and federally chartered U.S. banking partners where applicable.
Tether expands investments in AI payment infrastructure
The Mural financing follows several investments by Tether in companies developing automated payments, artificial intelligence and financial infrastructure.
On October 15, Tether Capital announced an investment in AIsa, which provides AI agents with access to paid software, data and computing services.
As crypto.news previously reported, AIsa’s financing brought its total funding above $9 million, with Tether and HIVEN joining existing investors including Alibaba and Tribe Capital.
AIsa focuses on enabling automated purchases of digital services, while Mural provides the underlying accounts, permissions and payment infrastructure used by fintech companies.
The investments were announced separately, and neither company has disclosed an integration between the two platforms.
On October 20, Tether Capital joined Tenstorrent’s financing, participating in the AI computing company’s $1.5 billion Series E at a $6.2 billion valuation.
Tenstorrent develops processors, computing systems and software for artificial intelligence workloads. Tether did not disclose its individual contribution or ownership stake in the financing.
The stablecoin issuer has therefore backed companies operating in different parts of the AI industry, including payment services, autonomous software and computing infrastructure.
Mural, meanwhile, recently changed its name from Mural Pay. In an October 14 company statement, Toffa said its existing team, licenses and compliance arrangements would remain unchanged following the rebrand.
