Visa buys Israel's BioCatch for $2.4b
The American payments giant is acquiring the Israeli AI firm, which protects hundreds of millions of users worldwide from financial fraud.
Visa has acquired Israeli company BioCatch for a staggering $2.4 billion in cash. This marks the second major cyber acquisition valued at approximately $1 billion or more this year, following Oasis' sale to Cyera for about $1 billion. BioCatch, founded in 2011 by Avi Turgeman and Benny Rosenbaum, develops AI-based systems to detect and prevent financial fraud.
The company's technology analyzes biometric and behavioral characteristics, such as typing patterns and mouse movements, to protect users and devices. BioCatch currently safeguards 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users worldwide, serving over 350 banking clients across 21 countries, including 100 of the world's largest banks.
Visa's Chief Executive Officer Andrew Torre emphasized that AI enables unprecedented scale of attacks, and BioCatch will help their clients stop fraud before it reaches the payment point. BioCatch's CEO Gadi Mazor highlighted the company's ability to distinguish between criminals and legitimate users using real-time intelligence-sharing networks. This acquisition is part of Visa's strategy to prevent upstream cyber threats.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post Tech & Start-Ups's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
