The Fourths

About The Fourths

An engineering firm, not an agency.

We are a software engineering team based in Johannesburg and London. We build production-grade platforms for founders and operators in regulated industries — and we stay.

Where we come from

Built in South Africa.
Proven in the UK.

The Fourths started in Johannesburg, building software for fintech and insurance companies navigating POPIA, FSCA, and the practical reality of South African infrastructure. We learned early that compliance-first architecture isn't a constraint — it's the foundation.

Our London practice extends that approach to FCA-regulated firms in mortgage, insurance, and financial services. The same engineering standard, applied to MCOB and Consumer Duty requirements.

9
Service lines
3
Case studies in production
2
Markets — Johannesburg & London
12mo
Minimum retainer partnership

How we work

Four things we don't compromise on.

01
Ownership over delivery
We don't hand off codebases. We run them. The team that scopes your platform builds it, deploys it, and maintains it. No knowledge transfer taxes.
02
Compliance from the schema up
POPIA, FCA, FSCA, and MCOB requirements get designed into the architecture at the start — not added as a wrapper at the end. Retrofitting compliance is expensive. We don't do it.
03
Real numbers, real accountability
We set measurable goals before work starts. Sprint velocity, uptime targets, audit readiness dates. Not estimates — commitments with evidence.
04
No lock-in
You own the IP, the repo, and the infrastructure. We build on open standards. If you ever leave, you take everything with you. That's the deal.

Where we operate

Two markets, one standard.

Johannesburg
South Africa · SAST (UTC+2)

Our primary market. We build for fintech, insurance, and healthcare companies navigating South African regulatory requirements. POPIA compliance is not an add-on — it ships with the schema.

POPIAFSCAFAISNCA
London
United Kingdom · GMT/BST (UTC+0/+1)

Our UK practice serves FCA-regulated firms in mortgage, insurance, and financial services. We have delivered MCOB-compliant mortgage technology and understand what Consumer Duty means in production.

FCAMCOBConsumer DutyAML

Ready to work together?

Discovery calls are 30 minutes. We'll tell you if we're not the right fit.

Book a Discovery Call