With the rise of e-commerce sales, there are more opportunities for online fraud and identity theft than ever before because the cybersecurity industry is always evolving with hackers being more sophisticated than they were in the past. This means services that help protect consumers and prevent cyberattacks are in demand.

E-commerce sales are expected to hit $5.5 trillion in 2022, according to Equifax, and digital payments are expected to grow from 2.6 billion users in 2020 to over 4.4 billion in 2025. These big numbers mean more people are disputing online charges and transactions, giving businesses headaches and costing them money. This is where third-party service providers can help.

On Tuesday, Equifax announced a deal to acquire LLR Partners-backed Midigator LLC, a provider of post-transaction fraud prevention services. Midigator’s technology is designed to automate dispute responses and offer businesses real-time data on why chargebacks are occurring and better understand their customers. American Fork, Utah-based Midigator has prevented more than 2.7 million chargebacks.

“We’re seeing strong demand from clients and partners for digital identity and fraud prevention solutions that encompass the entire customer journey, specifically around the desire to mitigate and manage post-transaction issues,” says Sid Singh, president of United States Information Solutions at Equifax. “Many organizations are in markets that weren’t prone to friendly fraud before. Now they are.”

Midigator is Equifax’s 12th acquisition since the beginning of 2021 and the company indicated will continue to look for deals.

It is absolutely no surprise that during a time where M&A is slowing down, dealfow in cybersecurity is not.

-Demitri Diakantonis