Meet the partner: Kount

At BR-DGE, we are proud to scale our modular payment orchestration platform, enabling enterprise payment professionals to access a global ecosystem of payment integrations through a single connection.

Our partners are essential to the payment journey, helping merchants deliver a seamless, end-to-end payment experience for customers.

In our Meet the Partner series, we highlight our collaborations with key partners, showcasing available products and functionalities, and how you can benefit from our extensive integrations.

This time, we spoke with Nisha Suwali, International Partner Business Director at Kount, about their fraud prevention solutions, the importance of partnerships in payments, and the key ingredients for successful collaboration.

Please provide an overview of Kount and what you do.

Founded in 2007, Kount is a leading provider of AI-driven fraud prevention, digital identity and chargeback management solutions for digital commerce businesses. Kount helps merchants to prevent fraud, reduce both chargebacks and false positives, and enhance overall security. Our solutions leverage advanced machine learning algorithms and a vast network of data sources to accurately assess the risk associated with each transaction. find out more at Kount.com.

How was your organisation founded? What was the market need?

Kount’s earliest innovations began in 1999. Dr. Timothy Barber developed and patented multi-layer device fingerprinting and proxy piercing to detect fraud on a retail platform. Originally, Kount was intended to serve as a payment gateway for that platform, with fraud control as a key feature.

At its founding, the e-commerce industry was growing rapidly, but so was online fraud. Merchants faced increasing challenges in detecting and preventing fraudulent transactions. They also needed to maintain a seamless and frictionless shopping experience for legitimate customers. The founding team realized that fraud control was a more significant part of the payments picture than they initially thought. The core fraud technologies developed by Dr. Barber became the foundation of the solution that the market truly needed.

In 2006, the idea for Kount emerged during a sushi lunch between Dr. Barber and former Kount CEO Brad Wiskirchen. Just like in the movies, the concept was literally drawn up on a napkin.

The business was built with the mission of providing merchants with a sophisticated fraud prevention platform. This platform could adapt to evolving fraud tactics and effectively combat online fraud. Over the years, Kount has continued to innovate and evolve its solutions to meet the changing needs of the digital commerce landscape. Today, it stands as a leading provider of AI-driven solutions in the fraud prevention and digital identity space.

Describe how your payment partnership with BR-DGE works.

Kount is pre-integrated with BR-DGE’s orchestration platform. This integration allows BR-DGE’s merchant customers to quickly and easily access Kount’s services—without needing additional technical resources or complex projects. This payment partnership enables BR-DGE merchants to streamline their fraud and chargeback prevention efforts by working with us as a strategic technology partner.

Through the BR-DGE integration, Kount offers real-time transaction fraud monitoring and chargeback prevention, regardless of the merchant's chosen gateway or acquirer. This payment partnership provides a unified approach to fraud and chargeback management, detecting fraud earlier in the transaction process. As a result, merchants can reduce downstream costs such as 3DS, gateway, and acquirer fees because fraudulent payments are blocked before they move further down the processing chain.

Kount also helps merchants optimise their payment strategies to reduce checkout friction and basket abandonment by using TRA (Transaction Risk Analysis) exemptions. This can only be achieved by implementing a pre-authorisation fraud tool, which Kount enables.

How would you describe your organisation's role in the wider payment ecosystem?

Kount plays an active role in the wider payments ecosystem as a leading provider of AI-driven fraud prevention and digital identity solutions. In this regard, we contribute in several key ways:

Fraud prevention and chargeback management: Payment fraud is a growing problem for many businesses. According to a recent Ethoca report, fraud losses for digital payments reached $20 billion in 2023. Furthermore, global card-not-present (CNP) fraud losses are expected to reach $28.1 billion by 2026—a 40% increase from 2023.

To combat this, Kount helps merchants, payment processors, and financial institutions protect against fraud. We leverage advanced machine learning algorithms and data analytics. As a result, Kount’s solutions detect and prevent fraud in real time. Consequently, we reduce chargebacks, mitigate losses, and safeguard the integrity of the payments ecosystem.

Compliance: Keeping up with changing regulations can be a significant headache for businesses. However, Kount eases this burden for merchants. We help them stay compliant with regulatory requirements like PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) and SCA (Strong Customer Authentication).

In fact, we provide advanced fraud prevention and identity verification solutions that align with these standards. For instance, our real-time transaction monitoring solution enables merchants to detect and respond to suspicious activity promptly. This, in turn, ensures compliance with PSD2's requirement for continuous transaction monitoring.

Moreover, Kount's risk-based authentication capabilities allow merchants to assess risk for each transaction. They can apply SCA only when necessary. By analysing factors such as device fingerprinting, geolocation, and behavioral patterns, we adjust authentication requirements based on transaction risk. Ultimately, this helps merchants leverage SCA exemptions, minimising friction for legitimate customers and boosting conversion rates.

Industry Collaboration: At Kount, we believe that partnerships are vital. Therefore, we collaborate with payment processors, card networks, industry associations, and technology partners. Together, we drive innovation, share best practices, and address emerging fraud threats. In doing so, this collaborative approach strengthens the payments ecosystem and fosters a safer, more secure environment for all participants.

For more information on how you can access Kount's digital fraud prevention solutions and maximise the partnership through BR-DGE’s orchestration suite, get in touch with the team.