From an idea born in a living room to a global force in fintech, two South African women, Thalia and Carla, are now leading an anti-fraud startup that is helping protect over R82 billion in transactions every month.
Cape Town, South Africa (07 May 2026) – Who would have thought that a business idea born in a living room somewhere in Cape Town would not only grow into a success but develop software that is protecting R82 billion from fraud in a single month?!
Well, two South African women did. Thalia Pillay and fellow engineer Carla Wilby joined forces as skilled software engineers to build their own anti-fraud startup, Orca Fraud.
After noticing how rapidly fraud was increasing alongside the rise of financial technology across Africa, they identified a critical issue – and set out to address it.
From day one, Thalia and Carla shared a simple belief: financial inclusion, as emerging markets grow, requires digital safety.
Part of their findings was that fraud in Africa was different from other parts of the world, mainly due to different payment methods, as well as very different socio-economic climates.
“We just started seeing a lot of real-time fraud on alternative payment methods,” Thalia, Co-Founder and CEO of Orca Fraud, told MyBroadband.
“When we looked at different solutions on the market, we found that a lot of them didn’t fit the South African payment ecosystem.”
And so, after managing to raise over R38 million in seed funding, their company began nipping the problem in the bud.
Orca is an orchestration platform which empowers fraud analysts and compliance officers at banks and fintechs with the tools they need to effectively combat various types of fraud.
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“Thank You, Durban” Delfi Family Shares Emotional Update 2 Weeks After Fire!Carla explained that their software uses “a combination of proprietary algorithms, heuristics, and machine learning” to determine the likelihood that a transaction is fraudulent.
“We are then able to return that to the provider, who is then able to make a decision on whether or not to proceed,” she said.
Thalia adds that her team believes that the responsibility to protect users’ funds lies with every institution involved in a transaction.
“Collaboration is essential, and when financial systems work together, malicious activity can be stopped before it spreads.”
Thalia, Carla and their team are doing just that, having protected over R82 billion in monthly transactions from fraud across more than 70 countries, working with banks, telcos, and payment providers.
Thalia’s alma mater, St Mary’s DSG Kloof Old Girls, was elated to learn how well she’s done and the difference she is making in the world of finance, sharing in a post:
“Congratulations and thank you to Thalia and her “pod” of fraud fighters for making big waves in ever-evolving environments!”
We applaud and celebrate this innovative duo and their team as they continue to safeguard billions and make the digital financial space safer for people around the world.
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