Orca Fraud Raises Investment Led by Norrsken22 to Scale Global Fraud Detection Platform
The company said rising digital payments across emerging markets have created increasingly complex fraud risks. In Africa, where mobile wallets and agent banking dominate, a single fraud attempt can involve multiple channels—from mobile wallet top-ups to card transactions, stablecoins or bank transfers—before traditional systems detect suspicious activity.
Fraud prevention platform Orca Fraud has raised new funding in a round led by returning investor Norrsken22, with participation from OneDayYes, Enza Capital and CV VC Africa. The investment comes as the company continues to expand its fraud intelligence infrastructure across emerging markets.
Founded by Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, Orca has grown to process more than $5 billion in monthly transaction volume across over 70 countries, working with major banks, telecommunications companies and payment providers across Africa. The co-founders raised their oversubscribed seed round after 16 months, driven by strong enterprise demand for fraud monitoring solutions designed for fast-growing digital payment ecosystems.
The company said rising digital payments across emerging markets have created increasingly complex fraud risks. In Africa, where mobile wallets and agent banking dominate, a single fraud attempt can involve multiple channels—from mobile wallet top-ups to card transactions, stablecoins or bank transfers—before traditional systems detect suspicious activity. Orca’s platform embeds intelligence directly into live payment flows, allowing financial institutions to monitor transactions across multiple payment rails in real time.
Unlike many global fraud detection systems designed for markets with more predictable data patterns, Orca’s technology was built within African payment ecosystems where transaction behaviour varies widely and datasets are fragmented. The company has spent several years aggregating payment data across the continent and training machine learning models that reflect how money actually moves in these markets.
Today, the platform supports fraud and anti-money laundering intelligence across more than 75 countries, connecting insights across global payment ecosystems—from mobile wallets in Nairobi to crypto wallets in Bangkok and digital payment platforms in Rio de Janeiro. The system’s cross-market intelligence allows fraud patterns identified in countries such as Nigeria to strengthen detection capabilities in markets like Kenya and South Africa.
“Rarely do you encounter a combination of technical brilliance and mission-driven clarity than what Carla and Thalia have built in Orca Fraud. Combatting fraud in Africa is no longer just a backend requirement; it is fundamental in an increasingly connected world. By reimagining anti-fraud solutions from the ground up, for a mobile first market, this team is solving one of the most meaningful problems of our continent.”
– Sir John Lazar, General Partner, Enza Capital
As Orca expands across emerging markets and payment systems, the company says it will continue focusing on building enterprise-grade infrastructure that embeds adaptive intelligence directly into live transaction flows, helping financial institutions detect fraud in real time without disrupting customer payments.
