Visa, BILL, Billtrust Launch Live Pilot for AI Agent Payments in B2B Transactions

AI Agent Payments Transform B2B Invoice Processing

Visa has launched a live pilot with BILL and Billtrust that enables AI agent payments to process approved supplier invoice payments from start to finish through payment portals1

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. The collaboration marks the first live pilot of its kind, currently processing real transactions between buyers using BILL and suppliers on Billtrust3

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. Until now, many payment portals relied on human authentication requirements that limited payment automation, forcing finance teams to manually log in and key in payments1

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How Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol Enables Autonomous Payments

The payment flow begins when the authorized BILL Payment Agent, registered through Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory, uses tokenized credentials and controls aligned with the buyer's approved payment instructions2

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. Backed by Visa's Intelligent Commerce portfolio, this allows BILL to securely automate card payments for supplier invoices on behalf of nearly 500,000 businesses using its platform1

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. On the receiving end, Billtrust uses the same Visa Trusted Agent Protocol to recognize, authenticate, and grant access to the authorized agent, enabling BILL to complete the invoice payment without requiring separate portal logins3

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Authentication Without Manual Intervention or Bot Blocking

The agent authentication replaces traditional site protections like CAPTCHA and other bot blocking tools that supplier portals typically deploy3

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. Buyers no longer need to share their supplier portal logins with payment providers, addressing a significant security concern in accounts payable processes1

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. The AI agents do not decide what to pay—they only autonomously complete payments the buyer has already approved, maintaining control while eliminating manual entry1

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. Mark Nelsen, head of product for commercial and money movement solutions at Visa, emphasized that "businesses should not have to choose between automation and control when making payments"1

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Addressing the Last Manual Step in B2B Payments

The companies describe the portal payment step as one of the last manual parts of accounts payable1

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. For buyers, automating this process saves finance teams from manually keying in commercial transactions. For suppliers, it accelerates card payment receipt and speeds cash collection. Archana Prasad, BILL's senior vice president of payments and financial services, stated that "for too long, supplier portals have been friction points, requiring a person to manually complete what should be an automated step"1

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. Billtrust's buyer network encompasses more than 20 million buyers representing $1 trillion in annual trade credit volume1

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Building Trust in Agentic Commerce

Kunal Patel, senior vice president of payments at Billtrust, noted that "agentic commerce will only move forward if businesses can trust agents to operate across systems with the same clarity and accountability they expect from people"1

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. Visa has previously worked on agent payment authentication, joining Mastercard and Ant International in September on verifying AI agent identity1

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. The current pilot tests how identity verification, payment controls, and transaction visibility can enable trusted agents to complete payments across platforms2

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. While the companies provided no specific transaction numbers or wider launch date, they confirmed plans to continue exploring payment automation as the pilot progresses1

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