SAP Agentic AI and Basware-Trustpair Deal Reshape AP Automation | NextMSC

SAP's Agentic Invoicing Assistant and Basware's Trustpair Acquisition Redefine the Boundaries of Enterprise AP Automation

At SAP Sapphire 2026, held on May 12, 2026, SAP SE unveiled its Autonomous Enterprise vision — introducing a suite of Joule Assistants for finance, including a dedicated Invoicing Assistant engineered to autonomously manage accounts payable workflows, reduce manual exception handling, and accelerate financial close cycles within SAP's cloud ERP ecosystem. The announcement marked the most consequential deployment of agentic AI into enterprise AP automation by a global ERP vendor to date, signaling that the market's competitive axis has shifted from rule-based invoice processing to AI-orchestrated, end-to-end financial governance. According to Next Move Strategy Consulting's Accounts Payable Automation Market report, the global accounts payable automation market was valued at USD 6.24 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 23.61 billion by 2035, growing at a CAGR of 14.23% from 2026 to 2035.

NMSC's proprietary research and analysis places the market at USD 7.13 billion in 2026, with growth driven by the convergence of three structurally distinct forces: the proliferation of mandatory e-invoicing regulations across Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific; CFO-led mandates to reduce invoice processing costs and improve working capital visibility; and the accelerating integration of agentic AI into procure-to-pay platforms. These forces are not additive — they are mutually reinforcing, as regulatory compliance requirements create the data standardization infrastructure that AI-driven automation requires to achieve high straight-through processing rates, according to NextMSC primary research and analysis.

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SAP Sapphire 2026: Agentic AI Enters the AP Workflow

SAP's May 2026 Sapphire announcements introduced the Invoicing Assistant as part of its Autonomous Spend pillar — a Joule-powered agent that takes on the heavy lifting of accounts payable, helping finance teams close faster with fewer errors once goods are received and invoices are matched. General availability for the Invoicing Assistant was planned for June 2026, alongside the Sourcing Assistant, Procurement Contract Assistant, Travel Assistant, and Expense Management Assistant — collectively positioning SAP's Autonomous Suite as a unified, AI-native source-to-pay environment.

The significance of this development extends beyond SAP's own customer base. Because SAP Cloud ERP underpins financial operations at thousands of global enterprises, embedding an agentic Invoicing Assistant directly into the ERP layer eliminates the integration overhead that has historically constrained AP automation adoption among large, complex organizations. Rather than deploying a standalone AP tool that must be connected to an ERP via API, enterprises can now activate AI-driven invoice processing within the same governed environment where their financial data already resides. This architectural shift compresses implementation timelines and reduces the data quality gaps that Forrester identified as a persistent barrier to touchless AP operations. 

SAP also announced that its SAP Taulia solutions — embedded within the SAP finance ecosystem — would gain new AI capabilities in Q3 2026, including intelligent term negotiations that use internal and external data to identify which suppliers are most likely to accept early payments, directly aligning payment decisions with working capital optimization goals.

Basware Moves to Acquire Trustpair: AP Automation Extends Into Payment Fraud Prevention

In a deal that reflects the deepening convergence of AP automation, payments, and financial security, Basware — the global leader in Invoice Lifecycle Management — announced its agreement to acquire Trustpair, an AI-driven payment fraud prevention company, with the transaction expected to close later in 2026. 

The strategic rationale is precise: Basware's platform confirms that an invoice is legitimate and approved; Trustpair confirms that the resulting payment reaches the intended supplier. Together, the combined entity will offer what Basware describes as the first end-to-end invoice-to-payment assurance in the market — a capability that addresses a specific and growing vulnerability in enterprise finance operations.

"AI may be the most powerful productivity tool of our generation. Unfortunately, it is also becoming one of the most powerful tools ever placed in the hands of criminals. A finance team can do everything right on the invoice and still send the money to the wrong bank account. Basware has spent more than 40 years protecting the invoice. Bringing Basware and Trustpair together extends that protection through the payment itself."

— Jason Kurtz, CEO, Basware 

"Approving the right invoice is not enough if the money ultimately reaches the wrong account. By bringing our capabilities together, we see the opportunity to give finance teams stronger protection across the full journey, from supplier onboarding and invoice approval through payment."

— Baptiste Collot, Co-Founder and CEO, Trustpair 

Once finalized, Trustpair will leverage Basware's intelligence spanning 2.5 billion invoices and 20 million suppliers to strengthen its AI-driven account validation models — a dataset that no standalone fraud prevention vendor could replicate independently. Basware currently serves more than 6,500 customers worldwide, including DHL, Heineken, and NBC Universal Media.

Cross-Border Payment Capabilities Enter the AP Platform Layer

On June 30, 2026, onPhase — an AI-powered AP automation and payments platform — announced a strategic partnership with TransferMate, the world's leading provider of embedded B2B payments infrastructure, to extend cross-border payment capabilities directly within the onPhase platform. The partnership enables onPhase customers to execute international payments within the same AP workflows they use for domestic supplier payments, eliminating the need for separate payment providers and the manual reconciliation that fragmented systems create.

"Finance teams are increasingly looking for ways to streamline operations, reduce manual processes and manage payments more efficiently without leaving the systems they already rely on. By partnering with onPhase, we are embedding global payment capabilities directly into financial workflows, helping organisations automate international payments, improve efficiency and gain greater control over their payables processes."

— Gary Conroy, President and Chief Commercial Officer, TransferMate 

"When cross-border payments run on the onPhase platform, finance teams gain a complete picture of cash and payables. This visibility enables optimizing working capital and keeping pace with their growing business demands."

— Robert Michlewicz, CEO, onPhase 

TransferMate holds 100 payment licenses — the largest regulated fintech payments infrastructure in the world — regulated across 93 jurisdictions, giving onPhase customers access to compliant cross-border payment execution without building or maintaining their own regulatory infrastructure. 

E-Invoicing Mandates Accelerate Structural Demand Across Europe and Beyond

The regulatory environment is functioning as a structural demand accelerator for AP automation in 2026. Belgium, Croatia, and Denmark joined a growing list of jurisdictions mandating e-invoicing from January 1, 2026, requiring businesses to issue and receive structured electronic invoices through government-approved platforms. France is rolling out its e-invoicing and e-reporting obligations in September 2026, requiring large and mid-sized companies to issue and report domestic B2B invoices electronically through certified platforms. 

Forrester's analysis of the AP invoice automation landscape identifies e-invoicing compliance and ERP transformations as core priorities for 2026, noting that regulatory pressure is intensifying toward strict real-time e-invoicing reporting and clearance mandates, making compliance capabilities non-negotiable for global enterprises. Forrester's Q4 2025 AP Invoice Automation Software Landscape report identified 41 vendors with relevant revenues in this market — a figure that underscores the intensity of competition and the breadth of enterprise demand. 

Key Industry Developments: April–October 2026

Region    Market Maturity    Key Structural Drivers    Growth Trajectory

NMSC Strategic Perspective: Three Structural Shifts Reshaping the AP Automation Market

Based on NextMSC primary research and analysis, the AP automation market in 2026 is undergoing three simultaneous structural shifts that collectively expand the market's addressable scope beyond traditional invoice processing.

1. From Invoice Automation to Invoice-to-Payment Assurance

The Basware-Trustpair acquisition is the clearest market signal yet that AP automation vendors can no longer treat invoice approval as the terminal event in their value proposition. As AI-generated fraud becomes more sophisticated — enabling attackers to fabricate supplier identities, intercept payment instructions, and manipulate bank account data — the gap between invoice approval and confirmed payment delivery has become a material financial risk. Vendors that extend their platforms through the payment execution layer will command higher retention rates and larger contract values than those that stop at invoice matching.

2. From Standalone Tools to Agentic ERP-Embedded Ecosystems

SAP's Sapphire 2026 announcements accelerate a trend that NMSC has tracked across enterprise finance transformation programs: the migration from best-of-breed AP point solutions toward AI-native capabilities embedded within ERP ecosystems. For large enterprises already running SAP Cloud ERP, the activation of a Joule Invoicing Assistant within an existing governed environment eliminates the integration complexity and data quality gaps that have historically constrained automation accuracy. This shift will compress the addressable market for standalone AP automation vendors among large enterprises, while simultaneously expanding the overall market by lowering the activation barrier for organizations that previously deferred automation due to implementation complexity.

3. From Domestic to Cross-Border Payment Automation

The onPhase-TransferMate partnership reflects a broader market evolution: as enterprises operate across more jurisdictions, the demand for AP platforms that can execute compliant cross-border payments within the same workflow as domestic invoice processing is growing rapidly. NMSC's regional analysis confirms that Asia-Pacific and Latin America — both characterized by multi-currency, multi-entity supplier ecosystems — represent the highest-growth opportunity for platforms that combine AP automation with embedded global payment infrastructure.

Competitive Landscape Snapshot

The AP automation market in 2026 is characterized by a dual competitive structure. Global ERP leaders — SAP SE and Oracle Corporation — are embedding agentic AI directly into their finance suites, reducing the integration overhead that previously gave specialist vendors a deployment advantage. Simultaneously, specialist providers including Basware, Esker, Medius, Stampli, and Tungsten Automation are deepening their AI-driven invoice capture, exception management, and payment security capabilities to defend their positions in mid-market and enterprise segments.

Fintech-oriented providers — BILL Holdings, Inc., Tipalti, Ramp, and AvidXchange (now private under TPG and Corpay following the USD 2.2 billion take-private transaction that closed October 15, 2025) — continue to gain traction among digitally mature organizations that prioritize rapid onboarding and real-time financial visibility over deep ERP integration. The AvidXchange take-private, backed by TPG Capital and Corpay, provides the company with the capital flexibility to accelerate platform innovation and expand its integrated payments and automation suite without the quarterly earnings pressure of public markets.

Bottom Line

The global accounts payable automation market is entering a phase of structural expansion that extends well beyond incremental efficiency gains. SAP's deployment of an agentic Invoicing Assistant within its Autonomous Enterprise suite — announced at Sapphire 2026 in May — signals that AI-driven AP automation is becoming a native capability of enterprise ERP infrastructure rather than a separately procured point solution. Basware's agreement to acquire Trustpair extends the market's value proposition from invoice approval to payment fraud prevention, creating a new category of invoice-to-payment assurance that addresses the growing threat of AI-enabled financial fraud. The onPhase-TransferMate partnership demonstrates that cross-border payment execution is becoming a standard expectation within AP automation platforms, not a premium add-on. Underpinning all of these developments is a wave of mandatory e-invoicing regulations across Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific that is converting AP automation from an operational efficiency investment into a compliance necessity. According to NextMSC primary research and analysis, the global AP automation market is projected to grow from USD 7.13 billion in 2026 to USD 23.61 billion by 2035 at a CAGR of 14.23%, with cloud-native SaaS, AI-driven exception handling, and embedded payment capabilities representing the highest-growth segments across all major geographies.

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