The acquisition of BioCatch by Visa sees it integrate biometric, behavioural intelligence and AI-related fraud prevention tools to combat bad actors
Visa has announced it has acquired fraud intelligence platform BioCatch for $2.4bn in a move that will see the global card company bolster its defences from AI-related fraud.
The acquisition was completed yesterday (3 August) for $2.4bn in cash after being advised by Permira and its existing shareholders.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter of 2027 following and is subject to closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.
Visa will acquire BioCatch’s behavioural intelligence products covering cyber, fraud, risk and security solutions, helping clients protect themselves from account takeovers, scams, money mules and the rise in AI-related fraud.
Andrew Torre, President of Value-Added Services at Visa, said: “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.”
What BioCatch brings to Visa
BioCatch becomes the latest fraud prevention firm to be acquired by Visa, following similar deals for Featurespace (2024), Verifi (2019), and CardinalCommerce (2016).
Founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2011, BioCatch initially focused on developing fraud prevention tools for biometric needs, including fingerprint and face scan technology.
This scaled into adopting AI and machine learning to analyse behavioural patterns of scammers and fraudsters, using real-time risk assessments during active digital banking sessions.
In 2020, it received $145m in funding in an investment round led by Bain Capital Tech. BioCatch exceeded $100m in annual revenue in 2023 and stated it protected more than 400 million bank customers with partners NatWest and HSBC.
Prior to being acquired by Visa, Permira acquired a majority stake in BioCatch in 2024 which at the time valued the company at $1.3bn.
Now as a Visa subsidiary, BioCatch is set to continue to develop AI and machine learning-based solutions that analyse thousands of application, behavioral, device, and network signals—such as keystrokes, touch gestures, and device handling—to detect fraud.
BioCatch will work with the Visa Protect team to help mitigate authorised push payment (APP) fraud before bad actors can reach customers’ funds and the payment rails.
Gadi Mazor, CEO of BioCatch, said: “Real-time insights into customer intent continue to grow increasingly essential for institutions to establish trust within digital banking sessions.
“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.”
Built for Visa’s agentic future
Alongside spending up to $13bn in technology and infrastructure to protect the payments ecosystem and accelerate the decline in fraud rates, Visa has also invested heavily into its agentic products.
Announced during Visa Payments Forum (2 July), the global card network expanded its Agentic Intelligent Commerce solution from controlled storefronts to carrying out transactions on the behalf of customers at merchant checkouts.
Speaking to Payment Expert at Visa Payments Forum, Mehret Habteab, SVP of Platform and Product Management at Visa, said clients “want to be in a position where they’re ready” for agentic commerce, with foundational elements in place to begin their agentic commerce journeys.
Fortunately for Visa, BioCatch launched a new agentic AI detection platform that identifies which AI agents are acting malicious bots when consumers interact with agents to perform retail shopping searches, prompts and queries.
The solution monitors navigation patterns of agents to assess and ultimately judge if the action it is taking is safe. BioCatch’s tool also analyses deepfakes that can be integrated into a company’s infrastructure, as well as installing 3,000 behavioural metrics to judge unnatural pacing.
A need for holistic fraud solutions?
BioCatch’s evolution from biometric behavioural analysis, to agentic risk assessments demonstrates how payments fraud has evolved over the last decade-plus.
Jackie Barwell, Director Fraud Product Management at ACI Worldwide, tells Payment Expert Visa’s acquisition of BioCatch is an example of why payment companies should focus on either building or acquiring all-in-one fraud solutions to combat bad actors from all angles.
“This move highlights the growing importance of bringing together diverse data signals to identify risk earlier and act faster,” says Barwell.
“It is a significant validation of the growing importance of behavioural intelligence as part of a modern fraud strategy. But no single signal or point solution is enough on its own. The real opportunity lies in combining behavioural insights with transaction monitoring, network intelligence and real-time decisioning to create a more complete view of fraud risk across the entire customer journey.
“The institutions that can orchestrate these capabilities together will be best positioned to stop fraud earlier, reduce losses and maintain customer trust in an increasingly complex threat landscape.”
