Ex-Zoom finance exec lands at fraud detector Forter

Dive Brief:

E-commerce fraud prevention startup Forter appointed former Zoom executive Anthony Barsoom to serve as its CFO, the company said Wednesday.
Barsoom replaces Aaron Barfoot, who left Forter to become the finance chief of its rival, Socure. Forter, which is dual-headquartered in Tel Aviv and New York, also announced the appointment of a new vice president of sales in the Americas: Jim Howard, a former sales executive at cybersecurity firm Tufin.
“We're thrilled to have Anthony and Jim join Forter at such an exciting time for the company,” Forter CEO Michael Reitblat said in a press release. “Their experience helping lead highly successful, profitable companies will be instrumental as we continue to scale our operations and drive growth.”

Dive Insight:

Prior to joining Forter, Barsoom served as Zoom’s head of finance for three years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was the CEO of fabric.com, an Amazon subsidiary. He also previously worked at Home Depot for nearly a decade, serving in various leadership roles including as finance chief of the company’s Northern division.

Barsoom’s predecessor, Barfoot, joined Incline Village, Nevada-based Socure in July 2023, after serving at Forter for more than three years, according to his LinkedIn page. Hiring an experienced CFO was a key step in Socure’s preparation for an initial public offering, Barfoot told Bloomberg in September.

A Forter spokesman told CFO Dive that Barfoot left the company on good terms in 2023 and Barsoom took over last month.

Forter and Socure offer competing platforms designed to help online merchants detect and prevent fraud, leveraging artificial intelligence technology.

In 2021, Forter announced that it raised $300 million in a Series F funding round, putting its value at $3 billion. The company’s clients include Nordstrom, Instacart, Adobe, and Priceline, according to the Wednesday release.

Juniper Research estimates that merchant losses from online payment fraud — such as phishing, business email compromise, and account takeover — will exceed $362 billion globally between 2023 to 2028.