Featurespace: Our Largest Exit to Date

Featurespace is a Cambridge-based developer of Adaptive Behavioral Analytics technology which uses machine learning to fight enterprise fraud and financial crime. With a mission to ‘make the world a safer place to transact’, the company’s award-winning platform helps banks and financial institutions including HSBC, Natwest and Worldpay, protect customers, reducing risk and business operating costs.

The sale of Featurespace to Visa, which was announced in September 2024, followed a period of huge growth for the business which saw revenues rise 46.5% in 2023 to £50.4m. At the point of sale, the company had grown to more than 400 staff operating globally from six locations servicing more than 80 direct customers including HSBC, NatWest, Worldpay, Danske Bank, Akbank, Edenred and Permanent TSB.

Combining their expertise in Data Science and Computer Science, Featurespace was created by Cambridge University Professor, Bill Fitzgerald, and his PhD student, Dave Excell in 2008.

The idea was to teach machines to behave like humans in an attempt to build the first system to outwit fraud attacks by thinking like each one of their customers. From here Featurespace went on to build the world’s first Adaptive Behavioral Analytics engine - the ARIC Risk Hub - to solve this commercial challenge.

IP Group was the first institutional investor in Featurespace in 2012 and, over the course of seven financing rounds, invested a total of £22.9m. Our technology partner Jon Edington was on the board up until the point of its sale to Visa, by which time IP Group was Featurespace’s largest shareholder.

In addition to capital, we also played an active role in sourcing and securing co-investors as well as in helping to hire Featurespace’s Chief Executive Officer, Martina King.

Featurespace is at the forefront of preventing people from becoming victims of financial crime and IP Group is proud to have supported them on this journey. The company has over 80 direct customers and 100,000 businesses have put their trust in Featurespace’s technology including HSBC, NatWest, TSYS, Worldpay, Danske Bank, Akbank, Edenred and Permanent TSB.  
Featurespace’s impact on both major financial institutions, as well as their individual customers has been profound and far-reaching. An astonishing 500 million consumers  have been protected from risk as a result of its ARIC™ Risk Hub, which processes 50.4 billion events every year. 

For IP Group, the sale of the company to Visa marked a record exit, further validating our model and expertise in identifying and supporting businesses to successful outcomes. On completion, we expect to receive £134m of cash and anticipate the transaction to result in a 70% increase from the Group’s FY23 net asset value.