• South African entrepreneur Thalia Pillayfounded Orca Fraud in 2024to help banks and fintech firms combat digital payment fraud in emerging markets.
• The platform integrates real-time fraud detection directly into payment flows, enabling institutions to block suspicious transactions before completion.
• Orca Fraud raised $2.35 million on March 8to expand real-time monitoring and anti-fraud intelligence across Africa and other emerging markets.

South African engineer and entrepreneur Thalia Pillay serves as chief executive officer of Orca Fraud. Pillay founded the company in 2024 with Carla Wilby to develop solutions that protect digital payment ecosystems in emerging markets.

Orca Fraud designs tools that help banks and fintech companies make payment operations safer and easier to manage. The company aims to reduce fraud-related losses while avoiding unnecessary disruptions for legitimate users. The approach seeks to strengthen trust in digital payment systems.

Orca Fraud integrates its technology directly into real-time payment flows. The platform supports several stages of the transaction process. The system analyzes user onboarding, transaction authorization, merchant monitoring, and fraud case management.

Instead of reviewing transactions after completion, the platform assists decision-making while money moves through the system. This capability allows financial institutions to block suspicious operations before they finalize transactions.

Orca Fraud built its technology around early anomaly detection. The platform identifies behavioral changes that may signal emerging fraud threats. The system monitors multiple types of fraud that affect digital payment ecosystems.

These threats include account takeover, investment scams, SIM-swap fraud, and money muling, a practice in which criminals use third-party accounts to transfer illicit funds.

Orca Fraud announced on Sunday, March 8 that the company raised $2.35 millionin funding. The company plans to use the capital to strengthen real-time transaction monitoring and expand anti-fraud intelligence capabilities across Africa and other emerging markets.

Thalia Pillay graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in mechatronic engineering, robotics, and automation. Pillay began her career in 2016 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the United States, where she served as treasurer.

Pillay joined financial services company Investec in London in 2019 as a software developer. Pillay later joined South African company Aerobotics in 2021 as a software engineer. Aerobotics helps fruit producers forecast yields through image analysis that measures fruit size, color, and quality.

Pillay joined fintech company Stitch in 2022 as a software engineer. Stitch promoted Pillay to engineering team lead in 2023. Pillay later co-founded Orca Fraud to focus on payment security technologies for emerging markets.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum

• Microsoft and Education Plus launched Empower+, a free digital platform offering AI and digital skills training across 21 African countries.

• The program targets adolescent girls and young womento reduce gender gaps in technology education.

• Sub-Saharan Africa could require 230 million digital jobs by 2030, according to the World Bank.

Microsoft and the Education Plus initiative, supported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), launched a new digital platform designed to strengthen artificial intelligence and digital skills among young people in Africa.

The partners announced on March 10 the rollout of Empower+, an online platform that provides free access to digital training programs. The initiative primarily targets adolescent girls and young women in 21 African countries and aims to reduce inequalities in access to technological education.

The platform, also accessible via mobile devices, offers modules covering basic digital literacy, emerging artificial intelligence skills, and the use of technology in the workplace. In addition, the modules combine digital training with awareness and prevention content related to HIV, a major public health issue affecting young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tiara Pathon, Director of Artificial Intelligence Skills at Microsoft Elevate, said the initiative aims to equip learners with the capabilities required in a digital economy. “Access to education and skills is one of the most powerful drivers of opportunity. With Empower+, we want to enable learners to gain the knowledge to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world,” she said.

This launch comes as demand for skilled digital professionals continues to rise across the region. According to the World Bank, nearly 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.

However, gender disparities remain significant. UNESCO reports that women and girls are 25% less likely than men to use digital tools for basic purposes, four times less likely to know how to program, and thirteen times less likely to file patents in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Against this backdrop, expanding access to digital skills training represents a key lever to reduce inequality and support economic inclusion. Online training initiatives could help create more professional opportunities for young women in a technology sector that remains largely male-dominated.

This article was initially published in French by Samira Njoya

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum