Permira

Visa to acquire BioCatch for $2.4B

Visa agreed to acquire Tel Aviv-based behavioral biometrics firm BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash from Permira and other investors. The deal centers on BioCatch’s behavioral biometrics — keystroke timing, touchscreen pressure and device handling — to distinguish legitimate users from scammers and bots, and the company currently protects about 760 million users across roughly 350 banks. Visa frames the acquisition as securing a 'trust layer' to authenticate AI agents, stem account takeovers and mitigate AI-driven scams, while bolstering value-added services for networks, issuers, fintechs and agentic commerce. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter 2027. The announcement arrives amid broader industry moves enabling AI agents to hold/spend stablecoins and route payments via AI-enabled card integrations.

Mobile.de Posts Big Profits Amid Internal Unrest

Mobile.de reported €529 million in revenue and €321 million in after-tax profit for 2024. The marketplace is owned by Adevinta and, since 2024, controlled by an investor consortium led by Blackstone and Permira, who are said to view Mobile.de as a prime candidate for an IPO with a rumored €10 billion valuation. Despite strong financials, the company faces internal tensions: several prominent employees have left recently and staff morale is reportedly poor. Commercial dealers—the platform's key customer group—are pushing back against repeated price increases. The article also flags competitive pressure as AI and large tech players such as Amazon and Google move into the market. The situation is discussed in a manager magazin podcast featuring Christoph Seyerlein and editor-in-chief Isabell Hülsen.

Zendesk Acquires Agentic Customer Service Startup Forethought

Zendesk announced it is acquiring Forethought, a startup that builds AI software to automate customer service interactions; the deal is expected to close by the end of March 2026 and terms were not disclosed. Forethought, winner of TechCrunch Battlefield 2018, counted customers such as Upwork, Grammarly, Airtable, and Datadog and by 2025 said it supported more than one billion monthly customer interactions. The startup raised $115 million in total funding from investors including Blue Cloud Ventures, NEA, Industry Ventures, Neo, Village Global, Sound Ventures and several angel backers. Zendesk said it will continue to support Forethought’s existing customers and integrate Forethought’s technology into its AI products—adding specialized agents, self‑improving AI, voice automation and more autonomous capabilities—accelerating Zendesk’s roadmap by over a year. Zendesk has been privately held since a 2022 buyout led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira.