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Vinny Lingham, originally called Vinodan Lingham (born February 7, 1979), is a South African-American serial tech entrepreneur popularly known for Co-founding the blockchain identity protection and management company Civic. After over a decade of experience running e-commerce businesses, he realized no one had a universal solution to tackle consumer identity fraud and data privacy, and it became an inspiration to build Civic.
Vinny founded the Silicon Cape initiative, a South African-based NGO that aims to make Cape Town the next global tech hub.
He also previously founded the gift card platform Gyft & Yola Inc., which First Data Corporation acquired in 2014.
Vingham is a well-respected figure in the crypto industry and a member of the Bitcoin Foundation, which dissolved in 2015.
He has had a great run in his career, and we will talk about that in this article.
Vinny Lingham’s Net Worth
Vinny Lingham has an estimated net worth of $5 million as of 2023. Lingham has made significant strides in the business world, earning him substantial wealth.
Vinny’s net worth stems from his involvement in multiple successful ventures.
As co-founder of Civic, he played a key role in building a platform that revolutionized the identity verification industry.
Vinny is an active tech investor primarily in Silicon Valley, focusing on Bitcoin & Blockchain projects in particular.
Vinny Lingham’s Wife
Lingham is married to Charlene Lingham, and they live in California with their two sons, whose names are unknown to the public.
Vinny’s Early Life
Vinny Lingham was born and raised in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Lingham later relocated to Cape Town for his higher education.
He enrolled at the University of Cape Town (UCT) to study Information Systems, demonstrating an early interest in technology and its applications.
However, Vinny’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited before completing his degree. In his final year at UCT, Lingham decided to drop out to pursue his business ventures, marking the beginning of his journey as a serial entrepreneur.
Vinny Lingham’s Career
Vinny Lingham is a renowned South African internet entrepreneur. He has established several successful companies and earned recognition for his contributions to the tech industry.
One of Lingham’s notable achievements is the founding of incuBeta in 2003. Incubeta is a holding company that controls subsidiary companies that offer digital advertising and marketing services.
The same year, he founded the first subsidiary company, Clicks2Customers, which provides search engine marketing software services to online brands. Lingham was the CEO of both companies.
In 2007, Lingham founded Yola, a web development platform for individuals, small businesses, and organizations. Yola has raised over $25 million in funding from Johann Rupert’s Reinet Fund. He is also the co-founder of the Silicon Cape Initiative, a South African-based organization aiming to transform the Western Cape into a high-tech startup hub.
Lingham’s entrepreneurial journey continued with the establishment of Gyft, a mobile gift card company, in 2012. Backed by Google Ventures, Gyft made an impact in the market and quickly became the leading platform for gift card exchange. In 2014, First Data Corporation acquired it for $54 million.
Currently, Lingham is the co-founder, CEO, and Board Member at Waitroom (A video meeting and conferencing platform), a General Partner at Multicoin Capital (A crypto fund investment company), and a Co-founder and CEO at Civic (a blockchain-based ecosystem that gives businesses and individuals the tools to control and protect identities.).
In 2015, he founded Civic, a startup that encrypts identity information on the blockchain. Civic raised over $33m in its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in June 2017.
Vinny’s Awards
Throughout his career, Lingham has received numerous awards and recognitions. These include being selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2006.
He was also recognized in 2009 as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Vinny was also named among the Top 500 CEOs in the World in 2015 on Wayback Machine.
From 2014 to 2016, he was one of the investors in South Africa’s Dragons Den, including millionaires like Lebo Gunguluza, Vusi Thembekwayo, and Polo Leteka Radebe.
The Dragon’s Den was a group of millionaires who listened to startups pitch their ideas, and they invested accordingly.
In 2016, he became one of the sharks in the follow-up to Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank South Africa, and he was featured in many episodes.
Lingham was also an Angel investor on National Geographic’s not-for-profit program Undercover Angel in 2017.
He is a popular crypto influencer known for being one of the earliest persons to start using ICO funding for startups, which he used for Civic and his experience in investing in the market.
