About Us
About Anqa
Founded in 2023, we asked why compliance software costs more than most businesses can afford. Then we built the answer.
Founded in 2023, Anqa is the work of three teams across New Zealand, India, and Africa who share a common insight: why does compliance software cost more than most businesses can afford? Why do the tools assume everyone has perfect internet and Western-style documentation? And why does "global best practice" usually mean "what works in London"?
We built Anqa to fix that.
We Believe Financial Inclusion is Impossible Without Compliance Inclusion
Think about it. When a small money transfer shop in Nairobi can't afford screening tools, they can't partner with banks. When a microfinance institution in Kuala Lumpur can't prove compliance, they can't access international funding. When an NGO in Jakarta can't screen donors properly, they risk their entire operation.
The biggest barrier to financial inclusion isn't technology or intention — it's the compliance gatekeepers that shut out anyone who can't afford enterprise software. We're changing that, one institution at a time.
Built Where You Are, For How You Work
Our team works from the South Pacific to South Asia to East Africa — not because we're trying to be global, but because we understand that the best solutions come from people who live the challenges they're solving. We've built compliance tools in places where:
- The internet can cut out during peak hours
- Your customers might not have formal IDs
- Your compliance officer could also be your accountant (and maybe your IT person too)
- Mobile phones are banks, but banks aren't always accessible
- Regulations change faster than you can keep up
This isn't about making excuses. It's about making tools that work in reality, not theory.
What Makes Us Different
We're not here to "democratise" anything — that word implies we're bringing something down from on high. Instead, we're building up from the ground, creating tools designed for the majority of the world's businesses, not the minority in glass towers.
We price for reality
Starting at $35/month because we know your margins. No enterprise contracts, no hidden fees, no minimums that exclude the institutions that need compliance most.
We build for your reality
Designed for low-bandwidth areas, with mobile-friendly interfaces for field work. Our tools work where your customers are, not just where the WiFi is strong.
We speak your language
Not always literally (though we're working on that), but we understand your context, your regulators, and the specific challenges of your market.
We respect your expertise
You know your market. We help you prove it to regulators. Our tools give you the evidence to back up the judgement you already have.
Yes, our name Anqa' (عنقاء) comes from the mythical bird of renewal. A symbol of fresh starts and transformation — which is exactly what compliance needs. Plus, phoenixes are pretty cool.
The Humans Behind the Platform
Daniel Rogers
Founder & CEO — New Zealand · LinkedIn
After 25 years in financial crime compliance and global banking, Daniel saw how traditional compliance solutions priced out many organisations that need them most. He's worked with major global and Australasian financial institutions, establishing AML/CFT controls across multinational operations. He also advised New Zealand's Ministry of Justice on AML/CFT Act reform.
"Compliance shouldn't be a luxury good. It should be as accessible as a mobile phone."
Joel Barasa
Chief Technology Officer — Kenya · LinkedIn
Joel has spent over a decade building the financial plumbing most people never think about — until it doesn't work. From digital card issuance to cross-border payments to cloud-native banking infrastructure, he's designed and built systems that process millions of transactions daily across some of East Africa's most demanding financial environments. His real superpower is making that complexity disappear.
"I don't just connect systems — I connect dots, people, and possibilities."
Justin Pemberton
Co-founder & Creative Lead — New Zealand · LinkedIn
Documentary filmmaker turned regtech strategist, Justin has spent years making complex stories accessible — from religious cult dynamics to economic systems. His films have reached audiences in 40+ countries. Now he's challenging the assumption that compliance tools have to be boring, expensive, and built for Wall Street. He's proof that sometimes the best regtech insights come from outside the regulatory world.
"If we can help people understand economic inequality through film, we can make compliance tools that actually make sense."
Prakash Chinnadurai
Technical Advisor & Investor — India · LinkedIn
With 25 years in global banking technology and financial services, Prakash brings deep expertise in wealth management, private banking, and corporate banking solutions. His background spans automation, DevOps, RPA, and large-scale digital transformation initiatives. He guides Anqa with the technical depth that comes from reshaping how major financial institutions operate. His philosophy: technology should simplify, not complicate.
"I've spent 25 years helping big banks transform. Now I'm excited to help transform access to banking itself."
Samuel Wafula
Application Architect — Kenya · LinkedIn
Samuel has spent nine years doing the kind of work that keeps financial systems honest. At ABSA, he built the regulatory data integration platform streaming millions of records to the Central Bank of Kenya — with full traceability and zero room for error. He also collapsed a transaction reconciliation process from eight hours to under five seconds. That same instinct for precision and scale carried into building a platform processing over $2 billion in payments for more than a million users.
"The best systems don't just process transactions — they create trust."
Kariuki Kanyango
Senior Backend Engineer — Kenya · LinkedIn
Kariuki builds the infrastructure that turns raw financial activity into something a compliance team can actually act on. Production-grade payment systems, real-time reconciliation at scale, MPESA ecosystems, and Kafka-backed compliance streams that make every transaction traceable end-to-end. His approach is deliberately unglamorous — clear service boundaries, simplicity where possible and complexity only when it's earned.
"Advancing humanity, one line of code at a time."
Rajendran Krishnan
Senior Software Engineer — India · LinkedIn
Raj makes sure Anqa's interfaces don't make you want to tear your hair out. A frontend specialist with a full-stack reach, he's spent his career building products from the ground up — from ideation and design through to deployment. At PluginLive he leads end-to-end product development. Expert in Angular, TypeScript, and React, he's responsible for making Anqa's complex compliance workflows feel like the obvious thing to do next.
"Good design makes hard things feel easier."
Matthew Adote
Systems Developer — Kenya · LinkedIn
Matthew has spent a decade building the connective tissue of financial services — the integrations between mobile banking, core banking, POS systems, and the payment rails that keep it all moving. He's delivered MPESA and core banking integrations for financial institutions, implemented NIST 800-53 security controls, and built the kind of REST APIs that banks and lenders actually depend on. He has a knack for finding the 70% efficiency gain hiding inside a slow process.
"Robust and elegant aren't opposites. That's what I'm always building towards."
Join Us in Building Something Better
Whether you're a rural bank in Bangladesh, a money transfer operator in Kenya, or a fintech startup in Nigeria, you deserve compliance tools that work for you, not against you. Because when compliance becomes accessible, finance becomes inclusive. When finance becomes inclusive, economies grow from the ground up. And when economies grow from the ground up, everyone wins.
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