Bill fuels growth for small businesses
Small businesses have faced a fragmented financial setting for years, juggling payroll systems, ERPs, and manual accounts payable processes held together by spreadsheets. BILL, a San Jose-based fintech, aims to change that by integrating financial tools directly into the platforms these businesses already use.
The company’s strategy focuses on embedded partnerships and AI-driven automation. Instead of replacing existing tools, it weaves itself into them, turning disjointed workflows into a unified system.
Embedded finance as the new standard
Recent collaborations with two major ERP platforms and a leading payroll provider demonstrate how embedded finance can work at scale. BILL’s AP automation now operates within those platforms, handling bill capture, vendor payments, and real-time reconciliation without requiring users to switch systems.
Russell Kornman, BILL’s Director of Product, Developer and Partner Platform, explained that the approach prioritizes depth over reach. Partners choosing BILL avoid rebuilding complex payment infrastructure from scratch. He noted that accounts payable and payments involve more than just features—they require rails, KYC/KYB compliance, vendor onboarding, and risk management, which demand years of development and ongoing maintenance.
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The payroll integration extends this concept by merging vendor payments with HR functions. Businesses that previously managed these processes separately now see them converging into a single back-office system. Kornman called this both a product and strategic opportunity, as customers increasingly seek unified solutions. By embedding within a leading payroll platform, BILL becomes the financial operations layer inside HR tools small businesses already rely on.
From ledger to execution engine
Traditional ERPs function as ledgers, recording transactions after they occur. BILL’s embedded model transforms them into execution systems. Users can select bills, pay them, and see reconciliation updates almost instantly—no exports, file uploads, or duplicate entries required.
For cloud ERP customers, the integration adds an AP layer alongside existing receivables capabilities. This creates a complete pay-in and pay-out experience within a single platform. Kornman described the role as bringing a top-tier AP engine and payments network into these systems, allowing customers to access stronger functionality without the platform needing to build it internally.
The model relies on BILL’s network of over eight million businesses. When a partner embeds digital payments infrastructure, they gain access to that network, reducing onboarding friction and speeding up electronic transactions. Kornman pointed out that customers can find and pay vendors already in the network, cutting down on checks and increasing security. As more businesses join, the platform becomes more valuable—a self-reinforcing cycle.
AI agents for small and midsize businesses
In late 2025, BILL introduced AI agents tailored for small and midsize businesses. These tools target the most time-consuming manual workflows in SMB finance rather than repurposing enterprise solutions.
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The W-9 agent, for instance, automates tax form requests, collection, and pre-validation, eliminating over 80% of manual steps. Business leaders consistently rank this process as the most frustrating part of tax season. Another agent handles reconciliation, automatically coding card transactions with early tests showing a 533% increase in fully AI-coded entries. A third feature, agentic onboarding for Spend & Expense, generates virtual cards and permissions so new employees can spend compliantly from their first day.
These agents train on more than $1 trillion in transactions and 1.3 billion documents—proprietary data that gives BILL’s AI an edge no synthetic dataset can provide. Like the embedded finance strategy, they integrate directly into partner platforms. Kornman explained that partners can offer capabilities like automated invoice capture, anomaly detection, and approval recommendations without developing their own AI stack. This raises the standard for what platforms can deliver without adding complexity.
The embedded finance model remains in its early stages. Current partnerships represent first-generation integrations, and the industry continues defining best practices. BILL’s focus on infrastructure, network effects, and proprietary AI suggests a future where financial operations move beyond simple record-keeping to active management within familiar tools.
Convincing the market that this represents more than just another software layer may be the company’s next hurdle.
