Protecht has acquired VISO TRUST, a US-based third-party risk management platform that uses artificial intelligence, in a deal the company says supports its global expansion strategy.
Protecht said VISO TRUST’s “agentic AI” capabilities will be integrated into its governance, risk and compliance platform, with a focus on third-party and fourth-party risk across vendor networks.
The company pointed to market forecasts and survey data to argue that enterprise organisations are increasing reliance on external suppliers faster than they can manage associated risk, including cyber threats originating through partners. Protecht cited research projecting the risk management market will grow at an 11.5% compound annual growth rate to US$41.7 billion by 2034, and a KPMG report indicating that while 83% of organisations plan to grow third-party networks over three years, 18% have fully integrated vendor risk management into enterprise frameworks.
Jason Phillips, CEO of Protecht, said: “The challenge isn’t just the growth in third-party risk, it’s that most organisations are still trying to manage it with fragmented, manual approaches that don’t scale.”
“VISO TRUST’s agentic third-party risk capabilities naturally complement and enhance Protecht’s existing risk management platform to help customers confidently manage risk across their entire enterprise and vendor ecosystems.”
Protecht said the combined offering will provide AI-driven vendor risk assessments intended to speed onboarding and due diligence, automation of GRC workflows via AI agents, continuous monitoring across vendor networks, and enhanced analytics for risk reporting.
Paul Valente, co-founder and chief customer officer of VISO TRUST, said: “Enterprise organisations are expanding their third-party vendor networks while facing more sophisticated cyber threats through those same relationships. Yet, most are still managing that risk manually, and that gap is exactly the problem VISO TRUST was built to address.”
“Joining Protecht means we can meet that demand at scale, combining our AI and agent capabilities with a world-class GRC platform, to deliver something genuinely differentiated in the market and for our customers.”
Protecht said Valente and Russ Sherman, co-founder and chief technology officer, will remain with the business in their existing roles.
The acquisition follows a US$280 million investment in Protecht by PSG Equity announced about a year ago, which the company said supported its growth plans.
