Visa announced on Monday that it will acquire fraud detection startup BioCatch in a $2.4 billion all-cash deal, as the payments giant strengthens its cybersecurity capabilities amid a rise in artificial intelligence-driven fraud and account takeover attacks.

The acquisition will give Visa access to BioCatch’s behavioural biometrics technology, which uses indicators such as keystroke patterns, touchscreen pressure and other user interactions to differentiate legitimate customers from fraudsters and automated bots.

Visa said it is buying the company from London-based private equity firm Permira and other existing investors.

The acquisition highlights the growing urgency among payments companies to bolster fraud prevention as generative artificial intelligence enables cybercriminals to launch cheaper, faster and more sophisticated attacks. Visa estimates that scams and account takeover fraud cost the global economy more than $1 trillion each year.

The deal also reflects Visa’s broader strategy to expand its value-added services business, which provides fraud prevention, cybersecurity and data analytics solutions to financial institutions.

The segment has emerged as one of the company’s fastest-growing business units.

“BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment,” Andrew Torre, Visa’s president of value-added services, said in a statement.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter in 2027, pending regulatory approvals.

The company did not disclose any additional financial details of the transaction.

BioCatch, an Israeli startup, said its behavioural biometrics platform currently protects about 760 million users across nearly 350 banks.

Through the acquisition, the technology will gain access to Visa’s vast global payments network, which connects nearly 14,500 financial institutions and processes more than 329 billion transactions worth over $17 trillion each year.

In a blog post announcing the deal, BioCatch said becoming part of Visa would enable it to expand the reach of its fraud prevention technology and strengthen efforts to combat the growing wave of financial fraud worldwide.

“The reality is, as a society and industry, we are not winning this fight,” the firm said. “The value of fraud and scam losses and the number of fraud and scam attempts, mule accounts, and victims of these financial crimes all continue to grow (in some cases, exponentially) every year, all around the world.”