Basware buys Trustpair to boost payment fraud checks

Basware has agreed to acquire payment fraud prevention company Trustpair, adding payment verification to its invoice management business.

The combination is intended to cover the full path from invoice approval to supplier payment, with Basware checking invoices and Trustpair verifying that funds go to the intended account.

The transaction is expected to complete later in 2026. Until then, Trustpair will continue to operate independently. After completion, it will continue to go to market as a Basware company.

Trustpair's tools will remain available across a range of finance systems, including SAP, Oracle, Coupa, Zycus, Ivalua, Jaggaer and Kyriba. Customers will not need to switch providers or systems to use the service.

The acquisition comes as companies face rising pressure over payment fraud. Basware cited industry data estimating that organisations lose 8% of revenue each year to fraud, while another survey found that 75% of anti-fraud professionals had seen an increase in generative AI document fraud and forgery over the past two years.

Only 7% said their organisations were more than moderately prepared to detect or prevent AI-powered fraud. At the same time, regulators in the US, UK and EU are placing more responsibility on businesses to stop fraudulent payments before money is released.

In the US, Nacha, which governs bank-to-bank payments, tightened its rules in 2026. Businesses paying suppliers through ACH must now have processes to identify unauthorised payments, including those linked to business email compromise.

Fraud focus

Founded in 2017, Trustpair focuses on checking that bank account details belong to the intended supplier during onboarding, when account details change and before a payment is approved. It says it works with more than 600 organisations.

After the deal closes, Trustpair will draw on data spanning 2.5 billion invoices and 20 million suppliers. That information will be used to strengthen its validation models and expand its reach.

The planned acquisition would be Basware's fourth since 2023. It previously bought Glantus, AP Matching and Redmap as it broadened its invoice lifecycle software business.

Baptiste Collot, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Trustpair, outlined the rationale for the deal.

"Trustpair was built around a simple belief: approving the right invoice is not enough if the money ultimately reaches the wrong account. By bringing our capabilities together, we see the opportunity to give finance teams stronger protection across the full journey, from supplier onboarding and invoice approval through payment. Trustpair will continue to operate with the same team, platform, and commitment to our customers and partners across the finance environments they already use. Basware's reach and resources will help us accelerate beyond what we could have achieved alone," said Collot.

Jason Kurtz, Chief Executive Officer at Basware, linked the move to wider changes in the fraud landscape.

"AI may be the most powerful productivity tool of our generation. Unfortunately, it is also becoming one of the most powerful tools ever placed in the hands of criminals. A finance team can do everything right on the invoice and still send the money to the wrong bank account. Basware has spent more than 40 years protecting the invoice. Bringing Basware and Trustpair together extends that protection through the payment itself. Together, we will offer the first end-to-end invoice-to-payment assurance in the market, strengthening Financial Integrity and Continuous Compliance across the invoice lifecycle," said Kurtz.

Industry analysts said the deal reflects a growing overlap between invoice controls and payment controls as fraud tactics become harder to detect through manual checks alone.

"The combination of Basware and Trustpair brings together complementary capabilities that address a growing gap in finance: protecting the invoice lifecycle from supplier onboarding through payment. As AI makes fraud more sophisticated and traditional validation harder to rely on, uniting these datasets enables a more contextual, proactive layer of risk assurance. It's a logical strategic fit and a timely move into an area of the market that remains underserved," said Permenter.