Worldpay Acquires Ravelin to Add AI-Powered Fraud Prevention Products

Worldpay has agreed to acquire London-headquartered AI-native fraud prevention platform Ravelin.

The acquisition, which is expected to close during the first quarter, will complement Worldpay’s portfolio of payments technology and solutions and enable merchants to protect their businesses while growing faster, the companies said in a Tuesday (Feb. 4) press release.

“In today’s online world, equipping merchants with next-generation AI-powered fraud prevention products is vital, and we believe Ravelin’s technology and expertise will significantly enhance Worldpay’s overall value proposition to the marketplace,” Worldpay CEO Charles Drucker said in the release.

Ravelin’s fraud prediction and prevention solutions for eCommerce merchants identify payment fraud, account takeover, return and refund abuse, promotion and voucher abuse, and marketplace fraud, according to the release. They also perform 3D Secure identification.

The company’s cloud-based AI platform will also allow Worldpay to offer its customers technology to improve authorization rates, per the release.

“Worldpay’s scale and reach, including processing approximately $2.5 trillion in payments volume and more than 50 billion transactions in 2014, will be an immense asset as we accelerate Ravelin’s momentum and advance our mission to eradicate fraud from the internet,” Ravelin Co-founder and CEO Martin Sweeney said in the release.

Ravelin’s fraud prevention platform helps tackle customer fraud, Grant Shipway, senior operational risk manager at U.K. retailer River Island, told PYMNTS in an interview posted in October.

Shipway said the Ravelin platform “gives us a clear view of each transaction and the customer behind it, so that we can identify and stop the fraudsters while ensuring great value and experience for genuine customers. We’re all agreed customer fraud is a significant challenge but addressing it should not come at the expense of protection, experience and value for legitimate shoppers.”

Companies that can effectively embed trust into their payment processes — through risk management strategies, transparent policies and seamless user experiences — stand to gain not just customer retention but also long-term loyalty, Sunny Thakkar, head of global fraud, disputes and authentication products at Worldpay, said in an interview posted in December.

“The balance between stopping bad actors and ensuring a smooth experience for good actors is critical,” Thakkar said.