Orca, a startup based in South Africa dedicated to combating fraud in emerging markets, has successfully raised €550K in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, according to a report from Tech Funding News.
The investment was led by Norrsken22, with additional participation from First Circle Capital, Musha Ventures, Kara Ventures, as well as several strategic business angels, family, and friends.
Orca, founded in January 2024 by Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, is committed to providing effective tools for fraud analysts and compliance officers. Their mission is to offer affordable and tailored fraud prevention solutions that address the unique challenges faced by businesses in emerging markets.
The newly secured funds will be used to expand Orca’s team and to further develop, validate, and enhance their fraud and compliance products. This strategic investment is expected to significantly bolster Orca’s capabilities in serving their clients more effectively across South Africa.
The founding team of Orca is notable for its all-female composition, a rarity in both the global and African startup ecosystems. Data from “Africa: The Big Deal” indicates that between 2019 and 2022, only 1% of funding went to female-only founding teams or solo female founders. Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, the co-founders, are determined to challenge this male-dominated landscape by building a lean, resourceful, and agile company.
Thalia Pillay, Co-Founder of Orca, emphasised the importance of building a network beyond South Africa to connect with fraud prevention experts in other markets. “It has been incredibly useful establishing a network far beyond South Africa where we’re able to connect with fraud players in other markets. There are so many parallels between the types of fraud that we see in various emerging markets.
“There’s so much fraud to fight that it really is a team effort. As we always say, we named ourselves Orca because orcas’ band together to take down boats. Looking forward to collaborating with our peers to take down fraudsters.”
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