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JPMorgan Payments and Mastercard joined a $15 million Series A funding round for Firmly, a no-code platform for agentic commerce. Firmly also launched Ask Agent, a conversational shopping product for merchant websites; the company says it will use the new capital to expand its platform across merchants and commerce channels.
JPMorgan Payments and Mastercard have joined a $15 million Series A funding round for Firmly, a startup building no-code infrastructure for agentic commerce. The company has also launched Ask Agent, a conversational shopping experience for merchant websites, as it seeks to help retailers sell through AI-powered and other digital channels.
Squarepoint Capital led the round, according to Finextra. Other participants included Samsung Next, Alumni Ventures, ARK Invest, Benhamou Global Ventures, Granada Funds, Hike Ventures, The Mercantile Companies and Versus Ventures. The report does not give the investment amounts contributed by individual participants or disclose Firmly’s valuation.
Firmly describes Ask Agent as an end-to-end shopping experience for merchant websites. Its features include natural-language product discovery using a real-time catalogue, in-chat checkout and conventional customer support. The source report does not provide details about merchant availability, customer usage or performance since launch.
The company says its Connect platform provides a single no-code connection for merchants seeking to sell through additional channels. Firmly says the system lets AI assistants, publishers, social platforms and other commerce destinations access product catalogues and commerce capabilities while merchants retain control of customer relationships, transaction data and their role as merchant of record. These are company descriptions of the platform, not independently verified performance findings.
Funding for AI Shopping Infrastructure
The investment brings payment and financial-sector companies into a funding round for a startup focused on the infrastructure behind agent-led shopping. AI assistants and other digital services could become additional places where consumers discover and buy products. For merchants, participating may require connections among product information, inventory, payments and checkout systems.
Firmly’s proposition is to reduce the need for merchants to build separate integrations for each destination. If its approach works as described, it could give retailers another route to reach customers while retaining their role in transactions and access to customer and transaction data. The announcement does not establish that merchants are already seeing higher sales, lower costs or other measurable benefits.
The launch of Ask Agent also gives the company a product aimed directly at merchant websites, rather than only an underlying connection layer. The funding could support Firmly’s efforts to expand across commerce destinations, but the report does not identify specific markets, customers or deployment milestones.
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Firmly’s Connect Platform and Market
Agentic commerce refers here to shopping experiences in which AI tools can assist with product discovery and transactions. In its report, Finextra describes the operational challenge for merchants as connecting catalogues, inventory, payments and checkout across a growing set of platforms and protocols. Each destination may require different technical work, which can make expansion difficult for retailers.
Firmly says Connect addresses that challenge with a common infrastructure layer. The company reports that the platform can provide access to more than 11 million merchants representing more than $900 billion in gross merchandise volume. Those figures are Firmly’s stated reach and GMV representation; the source report does not explain the calculation, provide a measurement date or independently verify them.
The funding is intended to support expansion of the platform globally and across AI agents, marketplaces, social networks, shoppable advertising platforms and other commerce destinations. The report does not name a timetable for that expansion or detail how the proceeds will be divided among product development, hiring and market growth.
“AI is quickly creating new storefronts for commerce, but merchants cannot build a new integration every time one emerges.”
— Kumar Senthil, Firmly’s chief executive
Adoption and Product Results Remain Unknown
The announcement does not disclose Firmly’s valuation, the size of each investor’s contribution or the specific terms of the Series A. It also does not say how many merchants currently use Connect or Ask Agent, which markets have access to Ask Agent, or whether the new product is available broadly.
Firmly’s reported merchant and GMV figures are not accompanied by a methodology or independent verification in the source report. It is also unclear which AI agents and other destinations are connected today, how integrations are implemented, and what safeguards or operational arrangements apply to in-chat checkout. No customer or merchant results were provided to show the product’s effects on sales or costs.
Global Platform Expansion Plans
Firmly says it will use the new capital to expand its platform globally, working with merchants and adding reach across AI agents, marketplaces, social networks and shoppable advertising platforms. The source report does not provide a launch schedule, identify planned partnerships or specify which regions will be targeted first.
Further details on Ask Agent’s availability and adoption, along with named merchant or channel integrations, would help clarify how quickly the product is moving from launch to wider use. The report does not state when Firmly or its investors will provide another update.
Key Questions
How much funding did Firmly raise?
Firmly raised $15 million in a Series A, according to the Finextra report. Squarepoint Capital led the round.
Which companies joined the funding round?
JPMorgan Payments and Mastercard joined the round, along with Samsung Next, Alumni Ventures, ARK Invest, Benhamou Global Ventures, Granada Funds, Hike Ventures, The Mercantile Companies and Versus Ventures.
What is Ask Agent?
Firmly describes Ask Agent as a conversational shopping experience for merchant websites. It includes natural-language product discovery from a real-time catalogue, in-chat checkout and customer support functionality.
What does Firmly plan to do with the funding?
The company says it will use the capital to expand its platform globally, across merchants and destinations including AI agents, marketplaces, social networks and shoppable advertising platforms. It has not provided a detailed schedule or spending breakdown.
How many merchants does Firmly say its platform can reach?
Firmly says Connect can help channels access more than 11 million merchants representing more than $900 billion in GMV. The source report does not provide a measurement date or independent verification of those figures.
Source: finextra.com
