Featurespace CEO Martina King to Retire, Marks Milestone After Visa Acquisition

Featurespace, a global leader in fraud and financial crime prevention, has announced that CEO Martina King will retire after the company’s successful acquisition by Visa.

King has led the company through a period of remarkable growth and innovation in the financial crime prevention sector. Her retirement marks the end of an era for Featurespace, which continues to set the standard for the industry.

Jason Blackhurst will take on the role of SVP, Head of Featurespace and Acceptance Risk Solutions at Visa. With a history of leadership roles across the payments industry, Blackhurst brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.

King’s retirement marks the culmination of a remarkable twelve-year tenure at Featurespace. During this time, she led the company’s growth from its early stages to its current position as a global leader in machine learning-powered fraud detection, now a Visa Solution.

Blackhurst is relocating with his family from the United States to Cambridge, UK to oversee Featurespace’s continued innovation and growth.

In addition to Blackhurst’s appointment, Featurespace is reinforcing its commitment to its academic heritage by securing a six-year lease at its current head office location in Cambridge.

This investment underscores its longstanding ties to the University of Cambridge, where its technology originated, with Visa’s dedication to fostering innovation within the vibrant Cambridge technology ecosystem.

Jason Blackhurst, SVP, Head of Featurespace and Acceptance Risk Solutions at Visa, says: “I am excited to build upon Featurespace’s strong foundations and drive further innovation in the rapidly evolving fraud prevention landscape.  I have been inspired by how deeply the team thinks about problems and solutions under Martina’s leadership and hope to continue that legacy.”

“Cambridge is Featurespace’s innovation heartbeat. Our continued presence here allows us to tap into the exceptional talent pool and collaborate closely with the University of Cambridge, ensuring we remain at the forefront of artificial intelligence’s advancement. This long-term lease demonstrates our dedication to the Cambridge community.”

 James Mirfin, SVP, Global Head of Risk and Identity Solutions at Visa, continues: “We are thrilled to see Jason move to lead Featurespace and to have a Visa presence in Cambridge. If you’re going to solve dynamic problems, you need dynamic leadership and relationships – and Featurespace has built that over the past 12 years.  Jason’s vision will be invaluable as we continue to deliver cutting-edge fraud prevention solutions to our clients globally.”

Featurespace provides ground-breaking solutions using AI to help banks and financial institutions crack down on fraud. It has built a model optimized for real-time data analytics, capable of recalibrating in real-time to help identify and prevent both existing and new forms of fraud.