Mercoa’s Virtual Card Agent automates one of the most complex and resource-intensive aspects of vendor management: determining card acceptance and executing virtual card payments at scale.
Most payment platforms leave substantial revenue unrealized by defaulting to ACH or check payments. Based on our data, 15% of invoices currently paid via ACH could instead be paid by virtual card, unlocking significant revenue and operational efficiency.
Traditional vendor onboarding is a manual, error-prone process involving:
This approach is not only time-consuming but also costly, consuming human resources and increasing the risk of errors.
Mercoa’s Virtual Card Agent uses advanced AI to fully automate vendor enablement:
The core monetization model is interchange revenue from virtual card payments. When vendors accept card payments, your platform earns a percentage of each transaction.
Typical Interchange Rates: 1.5% - 3.5% of transaction value
Revenue Scales with Volume: The more vendors accept cards, the more revenue you generate
Recurring Revenue: Interchange accumulates across ongoing vendor relationships
Network Effects: As more vendors accept cards, adoption and volume grow organically
Traditional onboarding is labor-intensive and error-prone, requiring:
Manual research to identify payment preferences
Vendor communication via phone and email
Documentation and recordkeeping
Ongoing updates and maintenance
With the Virtual Card Agent, you eliminate these overheads:
Reduced Human Effort
Remove the need for manual vendor research and outreach
Reduce AP team size or reallocate staff
Minimize errors and rework
Streamline reconciliation with automated receipt capture
Improved Efficiency
Instant payment execution (minutes vs. days)
Fewer failed or returned payments
Real-time updates on payment status
Centralized audit trails and secure document storage
Enhanced Risk Management
Fraud reduction via secure virtual card controls
PCI-compliant workflows
Improved vendor communication and compliance tracking
No. Your customers just need to use your BillPay product like usual. Our AI agent handles the details around determining if the vendor accepts virtual cards, if there are any associated fees and processing a card payment to the vendor.
We support PDF and HTML invoices. Scanned invoices are supported, but tend to have lower success rates.
All payments are processed using your secure virtual cards. We use bank-level encryption and follow PCI DSS compliance standards to ensure your data and payments are protected every step of the way.
Yes! Our AI agent is available via API, making it easy to integrate with your existing BillPay product. Check out our API documentation for integration details.
Our AI can handle most business invoices including utilities, services, subscriptions, and vendor payments. The agent automatically identifies when a vendor accepts a virtual card and processes accordingly.
Analysis results are typically delivered within minutes. You receive a detailed breakdown of the invoice, the vendor, available payment options, and associated fee information via our API.
If a vendor invoice does not have an associated payment link, Mercoa will reach out to the vendor to ask if they accept cards and how best to deliver it to them. Our agent then uses this information to deliver a virtual card to the vendor when necessary.
If a vendor charges fees for processing cards or doesn’t accept cards, Mercoa falls back to asking the vendor for their bank information so you can still pay them using ACH.
Yes. From your customer’s perspective, nothing about their current BillPay experience changes. Customers still have control over when an invoice is scheduled to be paid.
We maintain and curate the vendor database to ensure we always have their latest preferred payment method on file. Mercoa maintains communications with vendors to ensure payment details stay up to date.