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PayPal buys machine learning anti-fraud company Simility for $120m

In the latest round of its spending spree, PayPal has bought anti-fraud company Simility to enhance security on its payment services

PayPal has made a number of large purchases of late. Now, it adds Simility to its list of acquisitions, which already includes Hyperwallet and iZettle

On June 21, digital payment company PayPal announced it had acquired anti-fraud start-up Simility. The deal is the second major purchase PayPal has made this week.

The all-cash deal, worth $120m, will see PayPal acquire California-based Simility’s fraud prevention technology, which merges data collection, machine-learning and human analysis. Merchants operating with PayPal will be able to use Simility’s machine learning-powered fraud tools to protect their customers. The software can be customised to reflect the intricacies of individual businesses.

Merchants operating with PayPal will be able to use Simility’s machine learning-powered fraud tools to protect their customers

Among the crimes that Simility focuses on are account takeover fraud, new account fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and mobile remote check deposit fraud. It also provides solutions to ensure businesses comply with government regulation, as well as to surveil trading in capital markets.

“Digital commerce has exploded,” said PayPal COO, Bill Ready in the statement. “Fraudsters have taken note, adapting and developing new methods to carry out their crimes.

“PayPal has been at the forefront of developing innovative fraud prevention and risk management solutions for nearly 20 years, and now, merchants will be able to configure those solutions to manage the unique complexities of their business.”

In a separate blog post, Ready said the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, with the Simility team reporting to Tushar Shah, PayPal’s vice president of enterprise services platforms. The post also said the company would gain an office in Hyderabad, India, strengthening its position in a “key strategic market”.

The purchase is the second in PayPal’s sudden spending spree. Two days earlier, it bought global payout platform Hyperwallet for $400m. Both acquisitions come one month after PayPal completed its biggest ever takeover: the purchase of bought payment start-up iZettle for $2.2bn.