Basis Theory Raises $33M to Power Agentic Commerce and the Next Era of Merchant Payments

Pinterest, Melio, and MoneyGram are among the customers using Basis Theory's infrastructure to control their data and unlock agentic payments.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Basis Theory, the leading independent payments infrastructure company, today announced a $33 million Series B round led by Costanoa, with participation from Stage 2 Capital, Moneta VC, and continued support from Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, Box Group, and Offline Ventures. The funding validates Basis Theory's strong product-market fit and will accelerate its work with agentic commerce while expanding its enterprise-grade payment vault for merchants worldwide.

With merchants seeking better ways to manage payment data across multiple payment service providers, product leaders view payments as a strategic growth lever instead of a cost center. However, building these capabilities requires navigating significant compliance and technical complexities. With Basis Theory, customers can tokenize and manage sensitive payment data—maintaining complete control over how it's accessed within their own systems or shared with external partners.

"The payments ecosystem is changing rapidly, and merchants no longer want to be locked into rigid platforms," said Colin Luce, Co-Founder and CEO of Basis Theory. "We're giving control back by making payments data as accessible and programmable as any other data type so it can fuel growth, intelligence, and automation across the entire business."

At the core of Basis Theory's platform is a cloud-native, PCI-compliant vault that operates independently of any payment processor or orchestration layer. The vault serves as the foundation for agentic commerce, and the Agentic Commerce Consortium—a network of more than 20 companies collaborating to build the future of agent-led commerce. Led by Basis Theory, the consortium is defining the standards and infrastructure that allow AI agents to become trusted buyers, enabling merchants to participate safely in agentic commerce at scale.

"Basis Theory is at the forefront of a dramatic shift as AI reshapes e-commerce as we know it," said Amy Cheetham, Partner at Costanoa. "By giving merchants secure, real-time control over payment data, Basis Theory enables AI agents to authorize transactions, personalize experiences, and drive autonomous purchasing. They aren't just keeping up with the future of commerce, they're building it."

Basis Theory was founded in 2020 by fintech veterans Brian Billingsley, Colin Luce, and Ben Milne, whose experience spans industry leaders like Yodlee, Dwolla, and Klarna. It has more than 40 full-time employees and plans to expand its engineering, product, and go-to-market teams to unlock the next era of innovation in payments and AI-driven commerce.

To learn more about Basis Theory, visit: www.basistheory.com and www.basistheory.ai.

About Basis Theory
Basis Theory is the leading independent payment vault, built to help merchants and platforms secure, control, and utilize sensitive payment data across systems and partners. With PCI Level 1 compliance, SOC 2 certification, and a developer-first API, Basis Theory empowers customers to design their payment infrastructure however they choose with zero lock-in. Founded in 2020, the company is backed by Costanoa, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and others.

About Costanoa
Costanoa exists to elevate founders building companies of consequence. We lead investments from formation through Series A in Applied AI, AI Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, National Security, and Fintech. With $2.3B AUM, we're boutique by design—making fewer investments to deliver deeper expertise and operational support when it matters most: the early, defining stages of growth. For more information, please visit www.costanoa.vc.

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SOURCE Basis Theory