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Vinny is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded the digital gift card platform, Gyft, which was acquired by First Data Corporation in 2014. After over a decade of experience in e-commerce, he realized that no-one had a universal solution to tackle identity fraud for consumers.
Vinny Lingham (born Vinodan Lingham) is a South African Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of Civic - an identity protection and management startup based in California. He was also previously the founder and CEO of Gyft (acquired by First Data Corporation in 2014 for over $50m) & Yola, Inc. He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn Cape Town into a technology hub.
Harvard Business School
Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures, Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies
2017 - 2017
University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika
Honours, E-Commerce
2001 - 2001
University of Cape Town
B.Com, Information Systems
1997 - 1999
Hudson Park High School
Matriculant, High School/Secondary Diplomas and CertificatesMatriculant
1992 - 1996
Co-founder & Executive Chairman
Civic Technologies
Jan 2016 – present time
San Francisco Bay Area
General Partner
Multicoin Capital
Dec 2017 – present time
Austin, Texas
Co-founder & General Partner
Newtown Partners
July 2014 – present time
Cape Town Area, South Africa
Shark (South Africa)
Shark Tank Show
Oct 2016 – present time
Member
YPO
Nov 2015 - May 2021
Board Member
The Bitcoin Foundation
Dec 2015 - Oct 2019
SVP Product Development
First Data Corporation
Aug 2014 - Dec 2015
Mountain View, California
Co-founder & CEO
Gyft
Jan 2012 - Dec 2015
San Francisco Bay Area
Advisory Board Member
Rodan + Fields Dermatologists
Jan 2012 - Aug 2014
San Francisco Bay Area
Advisory Board Member
Catch.com
Nov 2012 - July 2013
San Francisco Bay Area
Founder & CEO
Yola
March 2007 - Dec 2011
San Francisco Bay Area
Co-founder & Board Member
The Silicon Cape Initiative
Oct 2009 - Dec 2010
Cape Town
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
incuBeta
June 2003 - Junr 2007
Cape Town Area, South Africa
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Clicks2Customers (acquired by Interface - 2012)
Junr 2003 - June 2007
Cape Town Area, South Africa
SEM Manager
Osiris Trading
Nov 2001 - June 2003
Johannesburg Area, South Africa
Business Analyst
Dimension Data
Feb 2001 - Oct 2001
Business Analyst
Commerce One
Oct 2000 - Feb 2001
Johannesburg Area, South Africa
In 2003, Lingham founded incuBeta, an investment holding company that engages in the ownership, management, and support of online marketing companies in various stages of development, with offices in the US, UK and Cape Town. Also in 2003, Lingham founded Clicks2Customers, a subsidiary of incuBeta that provides search engine marketing software and services. Lingham served as the CEO of both companies.
In 2007, Lingham founded Yola, a proprietary web development platform for individuals, small businesses and organizations. To date, Yola has received over $25 million in funding from Johann Rupert’s Reinet Fund.
Vinny Lingham is the co-founder of the Silicon Cape Initiative, a South African-based organization which aims to turn the Western Cape into a high-tech startup hub. He is also the co-founder of the investment fund Newtown Partners, through which Lingham has led early stage investments into successful and notable startups including Sweep South and Augmentors.
Lingham was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2006 and a Young Global Leader in 2009 with the World Economic Forum. Endeavor is a global non-profit that selects and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
In 2012, Lingham started Gyft, a mobile gift card company, with the backing of Google Ventures. In two years, Gyft became the leading service in the mobile gift card space and was acquired by First Data Corporation in 2014 for more than US$54m.
In 2015, Lingham founded Civic, a startup that encrypts identity information on the blockchain. Civic raised in excess of US$33m in funding during its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in June of 2017.
From 2014 to 2016, Vinny Lingham was one of the investors, or "dragons", on South Africa's Dragons' Den reality TV series. Starting in 2016, he is one of the "sharks" on the follow-up to Dragons' Den, Shark Tank South Africa. In 2017, Lingham was also an "Angel" on National Geographic's not-for-profit program Undercover Angel. Lingham is also the co-author of "I'm In: Essential Advice for Entrepreneurs".
Vinny Lingham made 23 investments. His latest investment is Initial Coin Offering - RNDR Token on Dec 21, 2021. Vinny Lingham invested $30M in RNDR Token.
He has invested in the following companies:
Dec 21, 2021 RNDR Token — Initial Coin Offering - $30M
Dec 18, 2021 SportsIcon — Seed Round - $5.6M
Oct 26, 2021 Minima — Series A - $6.5M
Oct 19, 2021 Concept Art House — Series A - $25M
Jul 29, 2021 Secured Finance — Seed Round - $4M
Jun 8, 2021 Flare Network — Venture Round - $11.3M
Jul 12, 2018 Stronghold — Seed Round - $3.3M
Dec 15, 2017 Blockfolio — Seed Round - $3.2M
Dec 1, 2017 Emerge — Seed Round - $4.7M
May 3, 2017 Swiftly — Venture Round - $2.5M
