Visa, BILL and Billtrust Launch First Live Pilot for Trusted AI Agent B2B Payments

Visa, BILL, and Billtrust have launched a live pilot using AI agents to automate end-to-end B2B invoice payments. By bypassing manual authentication hurdles like CAPTCHAs, the initiative aims to streamline the "last mile" of supplier portal payments, offering fintech leaders a glimpse into how agentic commerce can resolve persistent friction in accounts payable and receivable workflows.

What was announced

Visa, BILL, and Billtrust have launched a live pilot designed to enable AI agents to complete B2B invoice payments end-to-end. The initiative targets the friction found in supplier portals, which traditionally require human intervention to navigate security measures like CAPTCHA and bot-blocking mechanisms. By utilizing the Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC) portfolio, specifically the Visa Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory, the pilot allows AI agents to be securely authenticated as trusted entities.

In this workflow, an authorized BILL Payment Agent uses tokenized credentials and payment controls that align with a buyer’s approved instructions. When the agent attempts to pay an invoice, Billtrust uses the Visa protocol to recognize and grant access to the agent without requiring a manual login or human authentication. This process is intended to accelerate cash flow for suppliers while reducing the manual workload for finance teams using BILL. The pilot currently facilitates a recognized AI agent acting for a buyer, tokenized credentials instead of shared logins, and full visibility into the authorization and completion of the payment.

The pilot is currently live and processing end-to-end transactions with participating buyers using BILL and Billtrust suppliers. The system is designed to ensure that payments are completed in accordance with the supplier's existing acceptance policy while preserving visibility and control for both the buyer and the seller. By connecting buyer-side invoice approval with supplier-side payment acceptance, the companies aim to release "trapped cash" that often sits idle due to manual processing delays.

The companies involved

Visa is a global leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, and financial institutions across more than 200 countries and territories. The company has increasingly focused on B2B innovation through its Visa Intelligent Commerce portfolio, aiming to modernize how businesses move money. BILL, traded on the NYSE under the ticker BILL, provides automated financial operations software for small and midsize businesses. With nearly 500,000 businesses on its platform, BILL focuses on managing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and spend management. Billtrust is a prominent provider of accounts receivable automation and integrated B2B payments. The company specializes in helping suppliers accelerate cash flow by automating the invoice-to-cash process. Together, these entities represent a significant cross-section of the B2B payments ecosystem, spanning the network layer (Visa), buyer-side AP automation (BILL), and supplier-side AR acceptance (Billtrust). This collaboration addresses the specific friction point where buyer-side automation often hits a wall at the supplier's manual portal login.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively tracked Visa’s efforts to modernize global money movement through diverse partnerships and technological integrations. Recently, the publication covered how Visa and Mesh Partner to Enable Crypto Payments at 175 Million Merchants Globally, highlighting the network's focus on expanding payment utility. The company’s focus on digital assets and infrastructure was further evidenced when StraitsX Partners with Visa to Launch Stablecoin-Backed Cards in Over 100 Markets. Additionally, the network has been refining its infrastructure for commercial use cases, as seen in the report Visa Scales Stablecoin Strategy with Commercial Launch of Visa Direct Prefunding. These initiatives collectively demonstrate a broader strategy to integrate emerging technologies, from stablecoins to AI, into traditional payment flows.

What this means

This pilot marks a transition from simple robotic process automation to true agentic commerce in the B2B sector. By establishing a protocol that allows AI to bypass bot-detection tools like CAPTCHA, the industry is acknowledging that human-centric security is becoming a bottleneck for digital scale. If successful, this moves the needle by turning fragmented supplier portals into a cohesive, programmable network. However, it places immense pressure on portal providers to adopt standardized authentication protocols or risk being bypassed. The shift also raises critical questions for the sector regarding liability: when an AI agent executes a payment based on an "approved instruction," the legal framework for errors or unauthorized "agentic" actions will need to be as robust as the technology itself.