Immad Akhund on Building Mercury, AI Agents & Taking On Big Banks

Mercury CEO Immad Akhund on the AI startup funding frenzy, agents that spend money, and the future of banking.

Immad joins Eric Newcomer to discuss building Mercury to $1 billion in annualized revenue, competing with JPMorgan Chase, and developing financial tools for AI agents. What happens when an agent can move money, make purchases, or help run a business? They explore the controls and human oversight those tools need, plus the possibility of companies with no employees.

As a founder and active angel investor, Immad also explains why he sees signs of a startup funding bubble. With 10 or 20 funded companies competing in categories that once attracted just one or two, he argues that plenty of AI startups and their investors will lose, even as the technology creates major winners.

The conversation also covers Y Combinator valuations, building AI tools in-house instead of buying software, and why Mercury is hiring more as its engineers adopt AI.

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Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.