SAN FRANCISCO—Visa plans to purchase a fraud prevention vendor founded by a Cambridge University doctoral student to provide protection against payment fraud and financial crime risks, Bank Info Security reported.
The payment card services giant said its acquisition of Cambridge, England-based Featurespace will protect financial services organizations from fraud and boost Visa's portfolio of risk-scoring and fraud detection services for clients worldwide. Featurespace's platform detects anomalies in payment behavior and has more than 80 direct customers, including big banks such as HSBC and NatWest, Bank Info Security explained.
"Providing our clients with solutions that can adapt to and anticipate the changing threat landscape is of the utmost importance," said Antony Cahill, Visa's global head of value-added services. "Featurespace's strong foundation in AI will enhance our existing product portfolio and enable us to address our clients' most complex and pressing challenges. We look forward to welcoming the Featurespace team to Visa."
Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed, but investor IP Group expects to receive $149.8 million for its stake in Featurespace, representing a 70% uplift in net asset value since the end of 2023. Visa's stock is up $1.98 - or 0.73% - to $271.61 per share in trading (last week). The acquisition is expected to close by September 2025, Bank Info Security said.
Featurespace, founded in 2008, employs 419 people and has raised $111 million in nine rounds of outside funding, Bank Info Security noted.