Bill.com Debuts AI Business Payments Platform

Corporate payments technology firm Bill.com is rolling out a new platform designed to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) for automated workflows.

In an announcement on Wednesday (May 22), Bill.com said it has launched the Intelligent Business Payments Platform for small and medium-sized businesses that need a more efficient business payments solution. Bill.com pointed to its own research, which found the payments platform saves SMB users an average of 5.5 hours every week, or 35 business days a year, by automating processes that professionals had previously completed manually.

The platform includes an Intelligent Virtual Assistant, which automates invoice processing and approval, and uses machine learning to automatically capture data from those invoices and identify potential errors. It can also recognize bill approval routing and payment thresholds. The platform includes faster payment options that support cross-border transactions, virtual card payments and automatic payments for recurring bills.

“Bill.com has focused on developing new technologies that help SMBs grow,” said Bill.com CEO and Founder René Lacerte in a statement. “Automating the back office is a huge industry-wide need. Our new intelligent platform, which is the most significant update to Bill.com since its inception, is built on 10 years of experience managing business payments and hundreds of millions of bills and invoices to train the AI. Increasing the speed and ease of payments will help businesses get ahead.”

The launch of the AI-powered payments platform follows a partnership Bill.com struck with Mastercard last month. That tie-up, which coincided with the announcement that Bill.com had raised $88 million and achieved unicorn status, sees Mastercard integrate virtual card payment technology into the Bill.com portal, enabling companies to pay their invoices with single-use virtual cards.

Mastercard, along with Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC and others, provided the funding for Bill.com.

“Businesses struggle with conventional payment processes, which are complex, manual, paper-based and not always secure,” Lacerte said in a statement at the time.

Bill.com has also partnered with American Express, a collaboration that integrates Amex’s virtual and corporate card technology into the Bill.com platform.