Equifax Buys Fraud Prevention Firm Kount in $640 Million Deal

Equifax on Friday announced plans to shell out $640 million to acquire Kount, a company that sells e-commerce retail fraud protection.

The Atlanta, Ga.-based Equifax said the deal would expand its worldwide footprint in digital identity and fraud prevention solutions.

Kount, based in Boise, Idaho, operates and manages a network that uses artificial intelligence to link trust and fraud data signals from 32 billion digital interactions on 17 billion unique devices.

Equifax expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2021.  The companies said Kount’s employees will continue to be based in Boise, Idaho, and will report to the Equifax information-solutions unit in the U.S.

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“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.”

Kount claims about 9,000 brands worldwide rely on its network to protect against digital fraud during e-commerce transactions.

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