Visa has entered into an agreement to acquire BioCatch from funds advised by Permira and other shareholders for $2.4 billion in cash.
BioCatch provides behavioral and device intelligence technology designed to identify account takeovers, scams, money-mule activity, application fraud and other forms of financial crime before a payment is completed.
The acquisition will add BioCatch’s behavioral intelligence capabilities to Visa’s existing cybersecurity, fraud prevention, risk and payment security products.
BioCatch uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to examine thousands of behavioral, application, device and network signals during digital banking sessions.
Signals can include keystrokes, mouse movements, touchscreen gestures, device handling, AI agent activity and whether a device has been jailbroken. The platform uses these inputs to assess user intent and detect indications of manipulation or coercion.
BioCatch analyzes approximately 19 billion user sessions each month and protects more than 760 million users across 1.8 billion devices.
The company serves more than 350 financial institutions in 21 countries, including over 100 of the world’s largest banks.
Visa said account takeovers and scams cost the global economy more than $1 trillion annually and that generative AI is increasing the speed and scale of fraudulent activity.
The acquisition reflects Visa’s effort to address cyber and financial crime earlier in the customer journey, including during account opening and digital banking sessions rather than only when a transaction reaches the payment stage.
Visa has invested more than $13 billion in technology and infrastructure over the past five years to protect its payments network and help clients reduce fraud.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
KEY QUOTES:
“Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale. BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment.”
“This acquisition is part of our strategy to help clients prevent cyber threats upstream, building trust into every transaction.”
Andrew Torre, President of Value-Added Services at Visa
“For more than a decade, we’ve demonstrated behavior’s unique ability to distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. In the last couple of years, we’ve shown how real-time intelligence-sharing networks between our customers can amplify the power of our behavioral intelligence further still.”
“Together with Visa, we’re even better positioned to advance our mission of making the world a safer place to transact and protect consumers from financial crime.”
Gadi Mazor, CEO of BioCatch
