Founded by Christian Pickett (Coinbase, Vercel) and Bera Sogut (Google, Amazon), Orthogonal (YC W26) is building the infrastructure that lets AI agents automatically find and pay for software, removing friction from how APIs are bought and sold.

Pickett built payments and developer tools used by millions; Sogut engineered large-scale  distributed systems at Google. Together, they bring rare, first-hand experience building the systems developers already trust—exactly what’s required to rewire API billing.

The AI agent economy is scaling rapidly: $7B (2025) → $48B (2030) → $217B (2035), with 170+ startups pushing toward agent-led commerce. As AI becomes a primary software buyer, discovery becomes existential: if an agent can’t find you, you don’t exist.

Their x402 protocol turns APIs into machine-readable offerings with built-in pricing, enabling autonomous discovery and payment. Early adoption by Google, Novo Nordisk, and Boehringer Ingelheim signals strong enterprise demand and emerging network effects.