Visa has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BioCatch, a leading provider of behavioral-first, multi-signal fraud intelligence, from funds advised by Permira and other shareholders for $2.4 billion in cash. The acquisition strengthens Visa's cyber, fraud, risk, and security solutions, helping clients combat account takeovers, scams, money mules, and application fraud before they reach the point of payment.
Visa acquires BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash from Permira and other shareholders.
BioCatch analyzes thousands of behavioral, device, and network signals to detect fraud in real time.
The company protects 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users across 350+ banking clients in 21 countries.
Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually, with AI enabling attacks at scale.
Visa has invested more than $13 billion in technology over five years to safeguard the payments ecosystem.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of Visa's fiscal second quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
Account takeovers and scams have become a trillion-dollar global problem, and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale. BioCatch brings innovative AI and machine learning-based solutions that analyze thousands of application, behavioral, device, and network signals—such as keystrokes, touch gestures, and device handling—to distinguish legitimate users from fraudsters in real time. The acquisition positions Visa to help clients stop fraud upstream, building trust into every transaction before it reaches the payment stage. BioCatch serves more than 350 banking clients globally, including over 100 of the largest banks, and its behavioral intelligence network continuously collects more than 3,000 anonymized data points per session to assess user intent and detect coercion or manipulation.
AI, biometrics, authentication, identity, cyber defense, and fraud prevention are increasingly interconnected, and Visa has been investing strategically to stay ahead of evolving threats. Over the last five years, Visa has invested more than $13 billion in technology and infrastructure to safeguard the payments ecosystem and accelerate the decline in fraud rates. The BioCatch acquisition builds on Visa's existing suite of products, providing AI-powered solutions to detect and prevent fraud and financial crime from account opening to transactions. This includes the Visa Vulnerability Agentic Harness, an open-source AI security tool designed to help clients identify and remediate vulnerabilities at scale.
BioCatch's behavioral intelligence platform analyzes 19 billion user sessions per month, providing real-time risk scoring that helps banks distinguish criminals from legitimate users. The company's recent advancements in real-time intelligence-sharing networks between customers have amplified the power of behavioral intelligence further. Together with Visa, BioCatch is positioned to advance its 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 regulatory approvals, and is expected to close by the end of Visa's fiscal second quarter of 2027.
"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."
"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."
About Visa
Visa is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, sellers, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement.
About BioCatch
BioCatch prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting more than 3,000 anonymized data points — keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, AI agent usage, jailbroken devices, and more — as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's AI and machine-learning models continuously assess both user intent and any signs of coercion or manipulation throughout every millisecond of every digital banking session, allowing banks to distinguish the criminal from the legitimate in real time. Insights drawn from across the network of BioCatch institutions further amplify the power and accuracy of that real-time risk-scoring. More than 350 financial institutions deploy BioCatch solutions, analyzing 19 billion user sessions per month and protecting more than 760 million users on more than 1.8 billion devices around the world from fraud and financial crime.
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