On January 8th Equifax® (NYSE: EFX) a global data, analytics and technology company has announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kount, a provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven fraud prevention and digital identity solutions, for $640 million. As global digital transformation accelerates, driving customer interactions to digital channels in record numbers, businesses require new ways to establish digital identity trust in real time to fight the growing problem of online fraud while reducing customer friction.
The Boise, Idaho based Kount has raised $80M since its founding in 2007. It is one of the more established players in the eCommerce Fraud Prevention market. Kount boasts over 200 employees and claims to protect over 9,000 online merchants and businesses.
“There’s been an explosion in the last three to four years of consumers doing everything online and that’s only accelerated during Covid,” Equifax Chief Executive Officer Mark Begor said in an interview. “What comes with that is the challenge of making sure that individual who’s trying to complete that transaction, apply for that credit card, buy that product online, is really that individual.”
“Together, Equifax and Kount will leverage a powerful set of differentiated data assets and advanced analytics to deliver a high performance, integrated view of both digitally-native transactions and signals and traditional offline identity fraud risk indicators while maintaining privacy and security at the highest levels,” said Sid Singh, President of United States Information Solutions (USIS) at Equifax. “Whether you’re a bank, e-commerce provider, or a car dealer, today’s environment demands that consumers have the same – if not better- experience on their digital platform as they do on a major e-commerce retailer’s site. We are enabling businesses across industries to establish strong digital identity trust behind every interaction while facilitating new forms of online engagement with current and prospective customers.”
This would not be the first time a data, analytics provider such as Equifax purchased an eCommerce Fraud Prevention provider. In May 2018 TransUnion acquired Iovation for an undisclosed amount. Iovation was a device-based fraud prevention and multi-factor consumer authentication solution.