Mastercard Enhances Artificial Intelligence Capability with the Acquisition of Brighterion, Inc.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion, Inc., a leading software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition will further expand its suite of capabilities that deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.

Artificial intelligence plays a critical role in enabling consumer convenience, while delivering enhanced security. This advanced technology delivers greater insights from every transaction to assist in making even more accurate fraud decisions.

“To fully realize the promise of our increasingly digital lives, we need to design our payment systems with the future in mind and that’s what we’re doing,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for Mastercard. “Our unprecedented use of artificial intelligence on our network is already proving successful. With the acquisition of Brighterion, we will further extend our capabilities to support the consumer experience.”

Brighterion’s unique Smart Agent technology will be added to Mastercard’s advanced suite of security products already using artificial intelligence. The resulting insights and capabilities from the combined team will deliver even greater accuracy and a new element in managing risk and protecting the consumer.

“It all comes down to intelligent decisioning at the time of the transaction,” said Dr. Akli Adjaoute, founder and CEO of Brighterion. “We’ve worked with Mastercard over the years to identify patterns and trends to power their most advanced customers’ authorization and decisioning activities. We look forward to building on that foundation and providing an industry-leading, holistic and seamless security experience.”

The closing of the transaction is subject customary closing conditions, including the expiration or early termination of the applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

Brighterion offers the world’s deepest and broadest portfolio of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, providing real-time intelligence from all data sources regardless of type, complexity and volume. Our technologies are successfully applied in cyber and homeland security, anti-money laundering (AML), real-time cross-channel fraud prevention, onboarding and risk monitoring, behavioral device ID, data breach detection, marketing, trading, healthcare and biotech.