About us
The secret behind
many global brands
In Mฤori mythology, Ikaroa is the long fish that gave birth to all the stars in the Milky Way. That is exactly what we do. We give birth to stars.
Ikaroa is a creative agency and technology studio, founded in 2007 at One Market Street in San Francisco and now run from Dubai, with offices in Abu Dhabi, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Jakarta. We design brands, build websites, apps and AI systems, and run the marketing that follows.
Our story
Ikaroa was founded in 2007 at One Market Street, San Francisco. Number one. It is where Market Street, the city's main artery, begins at the water's edge, looking across the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building and the Bay.
The address has a long record of ambition. The Southern Pacific Railroad built its headquarters there in 1916 and ran a railroad that crossed a continent from those offices. When we arrived, the same building was home to Salesforce's headquarters. Autodesk and Visa have worked from One Market, and Google later took 300,000 square feet of it. We learned early what it looks like when a founder's idea grows into something the whole world uses.
We kept the belief we started with: great brands are built by people who genuinely care about the work, not by agencies running through a playbook. Two years in we opened in Los Angeles, then moved our base to the UK, and grew from there into a full-service creative and technology studio with offices around the world. We have worked with some of the most recognised brands in the world, and some of the most ambitious startups nobody has heard of yet.
In numerology, 1 is the number of beginnings and initiative. For a company named after the fish that gave birth to the stars, starting at number one felt about right.
We are designers, developers, strategists, and marketers who happen to work at the same company. We are the team you call when you need something done properly, on time, and to a standard that makes you proud.
Our journey
Founded at One Market Street, San Francisco. A small team with big ambitions.
Opened in Los Angeles. Not long after, we moved our base to the UK.
Opened our first office in the Middle East, in Dubai.
Launched AI implementation services.
Opened Abu Dhabi office at World Trade Center.
250+ team members around the world.
The name
Why we are called Ikaroa
Ika roa: the long fish. In Mฤori tradition it is the Milky Way itself, the great fish stretched across the night sky that gave birth to every star in it.
Most agency names are picked to sound clever in a pitch. Ours was picked because it describes the job.
The long fish does not make the stars shine. It gives them somewhere to begin, and it holds them while they grow. That is the role we want in a business. We are there at the inception, when a founder has an idea, a gut feeling and maybe a napkin sketch. We help turn that vision into a name, a brand, a product and a place people can find.
Some of the companies we work with are already burning bright. They are in growth stage, hiring fast, outgrowing the website they launched with. For them we sit at the centre of the next phase, as the creative hub the brand keeps coming back to for ideas and for the people who can build them.
We give birth to stars. Then we stay for the whole journey.
Every founder we meet is a future star. The name is a promise to treat them like one.
Yes, we chose our phone number on purpose. It took longer than it should have.
In numerology every digit carries a meaning, and a number is read by adding its digits together until a single figure is left. Most phone numbers land somewhere unremarkable. We went looking for one that would add up to something we believe about ourselves, and we were not willing to settle.
Every digit, added together
33 / 6
The Master Teacher
33 is one of the three master numbers, alongside 11 and 22. Numerologists write it as 33/6 but never reduce it, because the doubled 3 is considered too strong to fold away.
It stands for communication, creativity and service: using your talent to lift other people up. For a creative and technology agency whose whole job is helping founders be heard, we could not have written a better fit ourselves.
04
0 + 4 = 4
Reduces to 4
Structure and foundations. The number of builders, and the part of the work clients never see but always feel.
319
3 + 1 + 9 = 13
1 + 3 = 4
Reduces to 4
Four again. The middle of the number lands back on building, which is what we spend most of our days doing.
7333
7 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 16
1 + 6 = 7
Reduces to 7
Analysis, knowledge and technology. Then three 3s in a row: communication and creative expression, repeated until it is impossible to miss.
Read it left to right and the number tells our story. Foundations first. Building, again. Then knowledge and technology, followed by a run of creative energy that ends in a master number.
There is one more layer. 33 is also the master number of our founder, AJ Joshi. When the business line resolved to the same number as the person who started the business, we stopped searching.
Call it a coincidence if you like. We call it the right number to answer.
What we believe
Craft over speed
We take the time to get things right. Every detail matters and we do not cut corners to hit deadlines.
Honesty first
We tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. That is how the best work gets made.
Collaboration
We work with you, not for you. The best results come when we are an extension of your team.
Results that matter
Beautiful work that does not perform is just decoration. Everything we create has a purpose.
Around the world
One global team.
Our offices are in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Jakarta. Our clients are everywhere else, and so are the ideas we bring to them.
We hire for talent first. The best designer for a project is the best designer for that project, wherever they come from, and that is how we have built the team since 2007.
It means a brand launching in Riyadh gets people who understand the Gulf, and a startup in Austin gets people who know what an American audience expects. Different time zones. One standard of work.
The result is a genuinely global perspective on every project we take on, from a team that sticks around long enough to know your brand inside out.
Want to work with us?
We are always looking for great people and great projects.