TransUnion Buys Trustev In $44M Deal To Beef Up In E-Commerce Fraud Protection

Fraud continues to be a huge issue for consumers and brands doing business online, and today one of the bigger companies managing credit reports and fraud and ID management is scaling up to expand its capabilities specifically in the area of e-commerce. TransUnion, a Chicago-based company that went public earlier this year, is acquiring Trustev, an e-commerce ID and fraud protection startup based out of Ireland, in a $44 million deal, $21 million up front and $23 million more contingent to meeting certain targets.

Trustev has integrated into TransUnion’s wider fraud management solutions business. Trustev — which made its debut on the Disrupt stage in 2013 — looks at transactions and the people making them in real time, using big data analytics to make sure that sales are being made by legit entities.

“As fraud grows in volume and sophistication, TransUnion continues to invest in building our global capabilities to help companies manage their risk,” said Jim Peck, TransUnion’s president and chief executive officer in a statement. “Holistic information is a powerful tool to help our customers approve good transactions and prevent fraud, and Trustev’s innovative capabilities are at the forefront of technology in this increasingly critical field.”

TransUnion is well known as a credit report provider that competes against the likes of Experian and Equifax. This deal is about the company raising its game as a provider to enterprises to help them at the back end with monitoring and approving purchases to reduce the risk of online fraud. The companies say the deal closed on December 9 and the tech had actually already been integrated with customers seeing a 60% reduction in fraud as a result. Current customers include large companies in verticals like financial services, government, healthcare and insurance.

“Together, TransUnion and Trustev create a very powerful combination of software intelligence and rich data to stop online fraud. We will be able to help companies across many industries better spot bad actors online, and block their efforts, while letting good customers through. With TransUnion’s large global reach and Trustev’s online technology, this is a very positive move for all of our customers,” said Pat Phelan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Trustev, in a statement.

Trustev had disclosed just under $8 million in investments prior to this, with backers including Mangrove, Greycroft and others.