Visa has made a strategic investment in Replit, a platform for building software with artificial intelligence. The deal aims to embed secure payment tools directly into applications and AI agents created on Replit’s system.
The two companies said they are working to integrate Visa’s Intelligent Commerce infrastructure into Replit’s platform. This would let developers add payment acceptance and transaction capabilities to their projects without leaving the development environment. It’s a move that could simplify how commerce is built into new software from the start.
Visa’s Internal Adoption and a Broader Trend
Interestingly, Visa has already been using Replit internally for prototyping. According to the announcement, more than 1,000 Visa employees now use the platform. That internal adoption likely helped pave the way for this partnership.
The deal also reflects a larger shift in technology. AI tools are enabling teams to move from an idea to a working application much faster than before. At the same time, payment companies are preparing for a future where software agents might handle transactions on behalf of users or businesses without direct human involvement.
Exploring Agent-Based Payments
One of the more forward-looking parts of the collaboration involves Replit exploring how agents built on its platform could join Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol registry. This system is designed to identify agents as Visa-trusted, which would allow them to transact across merchant and service endpoints. It’s still early days, but the idea is that consumers or businesses could authorize an agent to handle payments on their behalf.
Beyond that, Visa and Replit are also looking at machine-to-machine payment experiences. These could support high-frequency, low-value transactions between services as software becomes more autonomous. Think of a scenario where one AI service pays another a small fee for data processing, all automated.
Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s senior vice president and head of growth products and partnerships, said the investment reflects a shared view that ecosystems like Replit are powering the next generation of builders. He noted that card payments should be native, secure, and integrated from the start so developers can easily build commerce into applications from day one.
Replit’s Enterprise Push
This investment coincides with Replit stepping up its enterprise business. Earlier this month, the company launched self-serve enterprise access. Organizations can now buy Replit Enterprise directly for contracts up to $200,000 without having to talk to a salesperson. The goal is to reduce procurement friction and help large organizations deploy AI-powered software creation tools more quickly.
Customers get features like single sign-on, SCIM directory sync, role-based access controls, audit logs, advanced permissions, SOC 2 compliance, and enterprise connectors. Each customer also receives a dedicated account manager from the first day of purchase.
Replit CEO Amjad Masad said Visa’s involvement highlights the company’s push to make coding accessible while maintaining enterprise-grade security. He believes that continued customer and partner additions in the enterprise bring Replit closer to a world where any team can go from idea to production-ready software quickly and securely.
It’s a practical partnership that seems to be aligned with where both industries are heading. Whether it leads to a major shift in how payments are handled remains to be seen.
