(Reuters) – Mastercard Inc said on Monday it had agreed to buy digital identity verification company Ekata in a deal valued at $850 million, as the global payment processor bets on a boom in demand for companies in the digital security space.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a shift to remote working, boosting demand for services to safeguard against cyber fraud.
“The acceleration of online transactions has thrust global digital identity verification to the forefront as one of the biggest opportunities to build digital trust and combat global fraud,” said Rob Eleveld, chief executive officer of Ekata, in a statement.
Seattle-headquartered Ekata counts more than 2,000 companies as its partners, including credit reporting company Equifax Inc and software firm Intuit Inc, its website showed.
Its products which include Ekata Identity Graph and Ekata Identity Network, allow companies to combat online fraud, it said.
The payments processor said the deal is expected to close in the next six months.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Amy Caren Daniel)
