SAN FRANCISCO – Visa has agreed to acquire fraud intelligence company BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash, expanding the payments company’s cybersecurity and fraud prevention capabilities as financial institutions confront increasingly sophisticated AI-enabled scams.
Visa said the acquisition will strengthen its portfolio of cyber, fraud, risk and security services by adding BioCatch’s behavioral intelligence technology, which helps financial institutions detect fraudulent activity before payments are completed.
“Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually, and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale,” Andrew Torre, president of value-added services at Visa, said in a statement. “BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment.”
Uses Behavioral Biometrics
Founded in 2011, BioCatch uses behavioral biometrics to distinguish legitimate users from fraudsters in real time by analyzing signals such as keystroke patterns, touch gestures and the way users handle their devices during online sessions.
According to Visa, BioCatch serves more than 350 banking clients in 21 countries and helps protect approximately 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users worldwide.
The acquisition continues a broader trend among major payment companies investing heavily in fraud prevention technologies as artificial intelligence increases both the scale and sophistication of cybercrime.
Growing Demand for Such Tools
Evercore analyst Adam Frisch said investors are likely to view the acquisition favorably because of growing demand for advanced fraud detection tools in the AI era. He noted that Mastercard’s acquisition of threat intelligence firm Recorded Future has been viewed by many investors as a benchmark in the sector.
BioCatch was acquired by investment firm Permira in 2024 after an initial investment the previous year at a valuation of about $1.3 billion. During Permira’s ownership, the company’s revenue and gross profit each roughly tripled, according to Visa.
The transaction follows several major acquisitions in the payments security market. Mastercard completed its $2.65 billion acquisition of Recorded Future in 2024, while Visa acquired payments protection company Featurespace that same year as it expanded its fraud prevention offerings.
