Visa completes acquisition of Cambridge cybersecurity company Featurespace
Visa has completed its acquisition of Featurespace, the AI-native transaction monitoring company that helps prevent fraud and financial crime.
Visa first announced the acquisition plan in September. The acquisition is estimated to have cost Visa $925m.
Featurespace will bolster Visa’s fraud protection capabilities and enhance security for its customers and consumers worldwide.
Visa will add Featurespace’s capabilities into its range of fraud prevention and risk-scoring offerings. By combining the two companies’ highly complementary products and tools, customers will have access to enhanced fraud protection services to help keep their businesses safe and secure, including real-time detection of sophisticated fraud attacks, without adding friction to the user experience.
“We are thrilled to welcome Featurespace to Visa,” said Antony Cahill, president, value-added services at Visa. “Both our companies have been at the forefront of using AI to solve longstanding challenges and pain points in the payments industry. Together, we will offer a valuable combination of cutting-edge technology and industry expertise to help our clients continue to grow amidst an increasingly complex threat landscape.”
The Featurespace business will become part of Visa’s Risk and Identity Solutions business unit.
Over the coming months, Featurespace’s product portfolio will be incorporated into Visa’s existing offering, expanding the available range of fraud prevention solutions and use cases. The Featurespace and Visa teams will bring together their knowledge, modelling methodologies and tools to further enhance the joint offering.
Dave Excell, Founder of Featurespace, added: “We developed our innovations to help crack even the most complex fraud cases. As part of Visa, we will be able to set a new standard in AI-powered fraud prevention and integrate our solutions into a series of products and services that will help make the world a safer place to transact.”
