Vinny Lingham
| Vinny Lingham | |
|---|---|
 Vinny Lingham | |
| Born |
Vinny Lingham 7 February 1979 South Africa |
| Residence | Los Altos, CA |
| Education |
University of South Africa Gordon Institute of Business Science Damelin |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur |
| Title | Founder and CEO of Yola, Inc. (2007–present) |
| Term | 2007 – Present |
| Board member of |
SkyRove Personera ChessCube |
| Awards | World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders (2009), Top Young ICT Entrepreneur in Africa Award (2006), Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneur (2006) |
| Website |
Company website Personal weblog |
Vinny Lingham is a South African Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of Civic - an identity protection and management startup. He was also previously the founder and CEO of Gyft & 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.[1] Lingham was also previously the founder and CEO of the global search marketing firm incuBeta and its subsidiary Clicks2Customers.[2]
Lingham lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Early life
Lingham was born on 7 February 1979 in East London, South Africa. He finished high school at the age of 17 and went on to study Information Systems at the University of Cape Town but did not complete his studies there due to turbulent financial times during the emerging markets crisis in 1998.
Entrepreneurship
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.[3]
Vinny Lingham is also 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.
Vinny Lingham was selected as an Endeavor (non-profit) Entrepreneur in 2006 and a Young Global Leader in 2009 with the World Economic Forum. Endeavor (non-profit) is a global non-profit that selects and supports High-Impact Entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
Vinny Lingham has sold his tech startup Gyft to First Data for an amount rumoured in excess of US$54m.[4]
In 2014 Vinny Lingham became one of the dragons in the first season of South Africa's Dragons' Den along with Lebo Gunguluza, Vusi Thembekwayo, Polo Leteka Radebe, Gil Oved.[5]
Awards
Lingham’s industry accolades include:
- Top 500 CEO's in the World, 2015
- World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders, 2009
- Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneur, 2006
- Top Young ICT Entrepreneur in Africa Award, 2006