On March 3rd in San Francisco, VGS hosted its first-ever Agent Connect, a dedicated event to exploring the rapidly advancing world of agentic commerce and payments. As AI agents begin to browse, decide, and transact on behalf of users and businesses, the infrastructure powering commerce and payments must evolve just as quickly. Agent Connect was designed to bring together the builders shaping that future.
Agent Connect was also featured on UBS's recent Agentic Commerce Thoughts, highlighting the growing momentum behind the emerging space.
We were thrilled to welcome close to 350 attendees from across the fintech, payments, AI, and commerce ecosystems. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the inaugural Agent Connect such an energizing and thoughtful gathering.
We were proud to convene an extraordinary group of leaders from OpenAI, Instacart, Visa, PayPal, Stripe, Mastercard, Shopify, and more to dig into what it truly takes to enable seamless, trusted, agent-ready transactions. Across a series of forward-looking sessions, speakers explored how to:
- design commerce experiences for AI-first journeys
- unlock the next wave of B2B payments driven by agents
- modernize payment rails for agent-readiness
- understand merchants' perspective and needs when it comes to AI and shopping
- and establish the protocols, roles, and global standards needed for interoperable agents.
Beyond the stage, Agent Connect created space for meaningful connection. By bringing together the brightest minds in fintech and commerce, Agent Connect allowed everyone to collaborate, challenge assumptions, and build the foundation for autonomous transactions. This inaugural gathering marked the beginning of an important conversation: how we power the agentic economy with trust at its core.
