Visa's $2.4 billion BioCatch acquisition aims to strengthen fraud protection

The acquisition of BioCatch complements Visa’s existing cyber, fraud, risk and security solutions and is expected to help clients better protect themselves and their customers from the growing threat of account takeovers, scams, money mules and application fraud.

Since its inception, BioCatch has developed innovative 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 and distinguish legitimate users from fraudsters in real time.

BioCatch protects 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users around the world, serving more than 350 banking clients in 21 different countries, including more than 100 of the largest banks globally.

“Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale,” said Andrew Torre, president of value-added services, Visa. “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.”

AI, biometrics, authentication, identity, cyber defense and fraud prevention are increasingly interconnected, and Visa is investing to stay ahead of evolving threats, both to protect its own network and to help clients do the same.

That includes the Visa Vulnerability Agentic Harness, an open-source AI security tool designed to help clients identify and remediate vulnerabilities at scale.

" The acquisition of BioCatch builds on Visa's existing suite of products, providing AI-powered solutions to detect and prevent fraud and both cyber and financial crime, from account opening to transactions," Visa said in a statement.

Over the last five years, Visa has invested more than $13 billion in technology and infrastructure to safeguard the integrity of the payments ecosystem and accelerate the decline in fraud rates.

“Real-time insights into customer intent continue to grow increasingly essential for institutions to establish trust within digital banking sessions,” said Gadi Mazor, CEO, BioCatch. “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.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter of 2027 and will provide significant benefits to its financial institution clients, consumers and the wider payments industry.