Patrick Harr, who grew HPE Cloud from $40M to $800M in revenue, takes CEO of DataVisor as AI fraud attacks surge. Co-founder Xie shifts to AI strategy.
DataVisor appointed Patrick Harr as Chief Executive Officer, a move that signals the company is betting on scaling AI-native fraud prevention as attackers weaponize AI at an accelerating pace. Harr, who previously grew HPE Cloud from $40 million to $800 million in annual revenue, replaces co-founder Yinglian Xie, who shifts to President of Technology and AI. The transition comes as financial institutions and payment providers face a market shift driven by faster payment rails, rising operational complexity, and AI-powered attacks that legacy rule-based systems cannot stop.
Fraud attackers are increasingly using AI to launch faster, more sophisticated, and previously unseen attacks. Static rules and retrospective workflows are becoming ineffective. DataVisor positions itself as an AI-native real-time decisioning engine that detects and stops attacks in milliseconds across billions of transactions. The appointment of Harr, a five-time venture-backed CEO with deep experience in AI-native security, is designed to capitalize on this inflection point.
Harr most recently served as CEO of SlashNext, an AI-native email and messaging security company that stopped advanced fraud attacks. SlashNext was acquired by Varonis. Earlier, he led HPE Cloud from $40 million to $800 million in annual revenue, generating more than $2.3 billion cumulatively over four years. He also held senior executive roles at VMware. This track record of scaling AI-native and enterprise software businesses is directly relevant to DataVisor's next phase.
Harr has repeatedly built and scaled high-growth technology businesses by aligning innovation, customer outcomes, and disciplined execution. At HPE Cloud, he transformed strong technical innovation into a scalable growth business. At SlashNext, he used AI to stop advanced fraud attacks before the acquisition. DataVisor's board, including Tim Drager of Brighton Park Capital, sees Harr as the right leader to accelerate growth.
DataVisor recently launched Vera, the first suite of conversational AI agents purpose-built for financial crime prevention. This product is central to the company's strategy of staying ahead of the industry. Harr's experience with AI-native products will be critical in scaling Vera and integrating it into customer workflows.
Xie will assume the role of President of Technology and AI, focusing on long-term technology vision, AI innovation, and next-generation product strategy. Co-founder Fang Yu will continue leading AI and product innovation. This separation of CEO and technology leadership allows Xie to deepen her focus on AI breakthroughs while Harr drives commercial execution.
The co-founders remain deeply involved in technology direction. This structure reduces execution risk during the leadership transition. The company's AI-native approach, combining adaptive machine intelligence, consortium intelligence, and agentic AI, remains intact.
Traditional fraud prevention relies on static rules and retrospective analysis. As AI attacks become faster and more sophisticated, these systems are becoming increasingly ineffective. DataVisor's real-time decisioning at massive scale addresses this gap. Competitors include legacy vendors like FICO and SAS, as well as newer AI-native startups. Harr's appointment signals that DataVisor intends to capture market share from incumbents.
The company's combination of real-time performance, consortium intelligence, and AI agents creates a moat. Trusted by leading financial institutions, payment innovators, and Fortune 500 enterprises, DataVisor has customer momentum. Harr's experience scaling from $40 million to $800 million suggests he can replicate that trajectory here.
Financial institutions are risk-averse and have long sales cycles. Deploying AI agents like Vera into core fraud operations requires trust, compliance, and integration with existing systems. Harr must navigate these hurdles while maintaining growth.
Large vendors are also investing in AI-native fraud prevention. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have cloud-based fraud detection services. DataVisor must differentiate on speed, accuracy, and specialization. Harr's experience competing against incumbents at HPE and SlashNext is relevant.
The key metric to watch is customer adoption of Vera and expansion within existing accounts. If DataVisor can demonstrate measurable reductions in fraud losses for clients, it will validate the AI-native approach. Harr's focus on disciplined execution suggests near-term emphasis on customer outcomes.
DataVisor is a private company backed by venture capital. Harr's appointment could precede a fundraising round or an eventual IPO or acquisition. His track record of building to exit (SlashNext to Varonis) adds credibility to that possibility. For now, the immediate priority is scaling the business and defending against AI-powered fraud.
Practical rule: CEO transitions in private AI companies often signal a shift from product development to commercial scaling. Harr's background in growing revenue from $40 million to $800 million suggests DataVisor is targeting that scale. Watch for customer announcements and product updates as confirmation of the strategy.
DataVisor's Alpha Score is 64/100 (Moderate), reflecting its position in the technology sector. The stock page is available at HPE stock page for context on Harr's previous employer. For broader market context, see stock market analysis.
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