Orca Fraud has raised $2.35 million in seed funding to expand its real-time transaction monitoring and fraud intelligence capabilities across Africa and other emerging markets, the company said on Wednesday.
The funding round was led by returning investor Norrsken22, with participation from OneDayYes, Enza Capital and CV VC Africa.
Founded by Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, Orca Fraud processes more than $5 billion in monthly transaction volume across over 70 countries, serving banks, telecommunications firms and payment providers, primarily in Africa.
The company said the funding follows an oversubscribed seed round completed after 16 months, driven by growing demand from enterprise clients as digital payments accelerate.
“Enterprises increasingly require fraud intelligence embedded directly into transaction flows to manage risks without slowing payments,” said Nivesh Pather, principal at Norrsken22.
Fraud remains a growing challenge in emerging markets, where rapid digitisation, mobile-first financial systems and fragmented regulation create complex risks. In Africa, widespread use of mobile wallets and agent banking means fraudulent activity can span multiple payment channels, often evading traditional monitoring systems.
Many global fraud prevention tools, designed for more predictable markets, struggle to adapt to these conditions, forcing institutions to balance between limiting fraud exposure and maintaining transaction volumes.
Orca Fraud said its platform integrates machine learning models trained on transaction data from emerging markets, allowing it to detect fraud patterns across different countries and payment systems in real time.
The company operates in more than 75 countries, using cross-market data to identify evolving fraud typologies, with insights from one market informing detection in others.
“Combatting fraud in Africa is becoming fundamental as financial systems grow more interconnected,” said Sir John Lazar, general partner at Enza Capital.
Orca Fraud said it will use the new funding to strengthen its enterprise-grade infrastructure and scale operations, while maintaining a lean, technically focused team.
“As we expand across markets and payment systems, our focus remains on ensuring safety keeps pace with scale,” co-founder Thalia Pillay said.