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  • Reason for the change: I noticed that this entry is really out of date. I've met Damelin and over the past decade he has become known across the industry for a number of significant investments that weren't mentioned in the entry. I thought this was probably worth updating. Due to the potential conflict of interest I decided it would be best to submit these updates on the talk page.


  • Specific text to be added or removed:


Errol Damelin
Born (1969-08-23) 23 August 1969 (age 55)
South Africa
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town
Boston University
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur and early-stage technology investor
Known forFounding Wonga.com
Children3 [1]
WebsiteErrolDamelin.net

Errol Damelin (born 23 August 1969) is a South African entrepreneur and early-stage technology investor and founder with a wide portfolio and a heavy presence in Israel and Europe. Around 40% of his investments have been in fintech but also with a focus on health and wellness[2]. In 2007 he co-founded Wonga, an internet payday loan company[3], and Tide, a UK-based banking services company[4]. Damelin stepped down as CEO of Wonga in 2013, five years later the company went into administration on 30 August 2018.[5] Damelin is primarily an early-stage technology investor.

Early Life

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Errol Damelin was born in South Africa on 23 August 1969. Damelin grew up in a Jewish family in Klerksdorp, South Africa, with his father being an anaesthesiologist. Upon graduating from high school Damelin attended the University of Cape Town, where he studied Business Science and Law[6]. He was politically active at the university, winning an election to the UCT Students Representative Council and participating in anti-apartheid rallies. During this time he was detained for protesting against the apartheid government policy of detention without trial.[citation needed] He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1992, finishing his studies at Boston University in Boston, United States with a Masters of Science in Management. Damelin subsequently emigrated to Israel, where he began working as a corporate finance banker at an Israeli investment bank.[7] In 1997 he left his job to help found Barzelan, a producer of speciality steel wire based in Beit Shemesh, Israel.[8] In 2000 Damelin founded Supply Chain Connect, a cloud based supply chain software company. Based in London, United Kingdom, the company developed software for the supply chains of companies, including Dow Chemicals, DuPont, Phelps Dodge, General Cable, Mondi Packaging, and Corning. In 2005 Damelin sold the business to ChemConnect for an undisclosed amount.[9]

Founded Companies

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Tide

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Tide is a UK-based banking service which is specifically targeted towards small to medium sized businesses which went on to secure as much as $16 million by 2018[10]. The inspiration for Tide was born out of frustration with poor banking services traditionally provided to small businesses. Damelin incubated the mobile banking service, Tide, from scratch as a pre-launch founder  and the first investor, participating in the seed investment round[11]. In 2021 it was reported that Tide now has 400,000 clients which is the equivalent of 7% of the SME banking market in the UK, and is the 7th largest provider of banking services to British SMEs[12].

Wonga

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In 2007 Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz launched Wonga.com, a payday loan website that provided short term loans to borrowers in the United Kingdom and abroad. Despite initial skepticism from banks, Wonga processed one hundred thousand loans within two years and lowered its initial 50% default rate significantly.[13] By 2013 the company had grown to over five hundred employees, with revenues of £300 million. That year it also acquired the Germany-based BillPay and launched Everline, a provider of loans for small and medium-sized businesses.[14] In December 2012 Wonga launched its Wonga Paylater service which offered shoppers the opportunity to pay for purchases in installments[15]. In November 2013 Damelin stepped down as CEO of the company to focus on new projects and spend more time with his family. Several weeks later, Wonga was required by the Financial Conduct Authority to offer about £2.6 million in compensation to customers for poor historic debt collection practices, which had included the sending of fake solicitor letters to its customers. Several months prior, Damelin had called for better regulation of the consumer lending sector and more transparency in the wider financial services industry of the United Kingdom.[16] When asked about Wonga's controversial lending practices after his resignation, Damelin said that he had no moral issues with them, claiming that that credit could be an important force for good when given transparently and fairly and that Wonga's customers were overwhelmingly happy with and supportive of the company.[citation needed] Wonga reported a ‘net promoter’ score of more than 90% stating that it’s “users appear very happy”[17]. After an increase in customer compensation claims, Wonga went into administration on 30 August 2018, five years after Damelin’s departure.[5]

Serial Angel Investor

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Wise (formerly Transferwise)

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Wise is a London-based financial technology company. Damelin was among the first investors into London-based money transfer business, Transferwise (which later was renamed Wise) when he took part  in the startup's 2011 seed round[2]. In 2012 the start-up managed to secure seed funding from a range of venture capital firms and high-profile peers including Damelin, alongside PayPal co-founder, Max Levchin and Betfair CEO, David Yu[18][19].

On July 7, 2021, Wise was listed on the London Stock Exchange at £11 billion and ended 10% up on their first day of trading. Wise was later dubbed “London’s largest ever tech listing” by Reuters[20].

Damelin commented in 2022 that he considered Wise to be one of the companies he is “most excited to see move forward: because of its potential to have dramatic impact on financial inclusion[11].” Speaking of Damelin, founder and chairman of Wise, Taavet Hinrikus said: “Errol sits in a very small and special category of early investors. He knows how stuff works in detail and is incredibly passionate about getting companies off the ground. He’s intense and helpful…without trying to get credit.”[2]

Cazoo

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Cazoo is a British car retailer for used cars started in 2018 by entrepreneur Alex Chesterman to transform the used car market[21]. The ecommerce platform for used cars was launched in December 2019.

In 2021, Cazoo listed in New York with a valuation of $8bn and was dubbed a unicorn. As of 2022 Cazoo is reported to deliver 50,000 cars a year[22]. Damelin was one of the first investors to get involved in the motor industry platform[2].

Purplebricks

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Purplebricks is a British online estate agent founded in 2012 by Michael Bruce and Kenny Bruce[23]. The concept of Purplebricks is a lower-cost, digital model of estate agency with the key goal of making property selling into a 24-hour business[24]. The company launched in April 2014 and began selling shares publicly on AIM in December 2015 under the name Purplebricks Groups Limited[25].

Damelin was one of the initial backers on Purplebricks alongside other notable investors[26].

Viva Real

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Viva Real is a Brazilian-based portal for property classified adverts which has been part of Grupo ZAP since 2017[27]. Since 2020 it has been a subsidiary of Grupo OLX Brasil[28]. Damelin became an early investor in the company to expand into a market which he considered to be somewhat untapped[11].

K Health

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K Health is a heath care technology company which used artificial intelligence to triage patients in an effort to cut costs to medical providers and “democratize access to quality healthcare”. In March 2022 the company reported having 5 million users and said that it had raised $132 million in 2021 as part of a Series E round, bringing its total funding efforts to $271 million[29]. Damelin, as an early investor into K Health, stated that the company has “kind of potential [which] is precisely what I look for as an investment” due to its disruptive nature to the industry[11].

Products and Inventions

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Many-to-One Transaction Fulfillment System

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Damelin, together with Jonty Hurwitz, invented a system for facilitating the provision of personal online credit from multiple credit sources that includes a Many-to-one Transaction Fulfillment System adapted to connect multiple money sources, online consumers, and vendor payment platforms[30].

System and Method for Delivery of Dynamic Personalized Sliders Online

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Damelin, together with Jonty Hurwitz, devised a system that would enable customers or users to acquire consumer credit on a personalized basis[31].

Plug-In System and Method for Consumer Credit Acquisition Online

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Damelin, together with Jonty Hurwitz, invented a system that provides real-time personalized and customizable consumer credit from a credit provider and that is then placed into a shopping basket or facility on the internet or on a mobile network[32].

Loan Automation System

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Damelin, together with Daniel Hegarty, invented a computer readable storage medium that can be used to automatically determine whether to provide a loan. Loan requests and the identity of the loan applicant is received remotely from the loan applicant and then a process automatically determines whether to grant the loan using a trust rating calculated by the system and two pieces of external data related to credit worthiness and through monitoring of online usage. Upon approval of the loan, instructions are sent to transfer the loan to a bank account[33].  

Method and System for Determining an Online Loan

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Damelin, together with Daniel Hegarty and Jonty Hurwitz, invented a system that determines whether a loan provider should provide an online loan to a user without the need for a separate channel of communication. This system is unlike previous systems that would use some form of credit rating to determine whether to provide a loan because those would need a separate channel of communication and security controls that would determine whether applicants are actually the people, they say they are[34].

Awards

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Damelin has received several entrepreneurial awards:

  • 2008 – Credit Suisse Entrepreneur of the year at the National Business Awards, South East[35]
  • 2009 – Ruban d’Honneur in the RSM International Entrepreneur of the Year category of the European Business Awards[citation needed]
  • 2010 – Digital Entrepreneur of the Year (Digital Entrepreneur Awards)[36]
  • 2010 – Entrepreneur of the Year (Growing Business Awards)[37]
  • 2010 – Founder of the Year (Tech Crunch – The Europa's)[38]
  • 2011 – Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year[39]
  • 2011 – The Guardian's Digital Entrepreneur of the Year[40][41]
  • 2012 – Founder of the Year (Founders Forum)[42]

Philanthropy

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Damelin has donated to Jewish charities and has appeared on panels and discussions for World Jewish Relief and Jewish Care.[43][44] Damelin has also been an ambassador for Charity: Water and ran the Antarctic Ice marathon, where he raised substantial funds for the charity. In 2015 Damelin became a founding member of Founders Pledge, a group of technology entrepreneurs who pledged 2% of the equity in their companies to philanthropic causes.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Damelin lives in London and has three children.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Damelin now Wonga chair in board reshuffle". CityAM. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Wonga's Errol Damelin banks 9000% return on angel investments | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  3. ^ Rupert Jones. "Wonga cuts cost of borrowing, but interest rate still 1,509% | Money". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  4. ^ Renshaw, Rosalind (2 August 2016). "Zoopla boss Chesterman and Purplebricks backer Damelin get behind banking start-up". Property Industry Eye. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b Collinson, Patrick; Jones, Rupert (30 August 2018). "Wonga collapses into administration". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. ^ www.thejc.com https://www.thejc.com/business/diary/the-jc-profile-errol-damelin-payday-loan-king-1.49423. Retrieved 15 June 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Wonga chief speaks to the JC
  8. ^ "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 January 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  9. ^ "Wonga's financial insurgent sets sights on small businesses". Financial Times. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  10. ^ "The founder of business banking startup Tide plans to step down as CEO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d "Q&A: Angel investor Errol Damelin picks problems for which he wants to find solutions". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Tide rides wave of UK SME creation to add 100,000 customers in 2021". UKTN | UK Tech News. 21 January 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  13. ^ Palmer, Maija (24 May 2009). "Wonga pushes web loan innovation". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  14. ^ Andrew Cave (13 May 2012). "Wonga's Ice-cool chief Errol Damelin can take the heat". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  15. ^ "Wonga launches 'buy now, pay later' service". ITV News. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  16. ^ James Quinn (30 June 2013). "Wonga boss Errol Damelin: it's time to push the bad guys out of payday loans". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  17. ^ "Wonga: What makes money lender tick?". BBC News. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  18. ^ "TransferWise becomes profitable six years after being founded". BBC News. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  19. ^ "Forex firm TransferWise to sell stake in new fundraising round: sources". Reuters. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  20. ^ Ramnarayan, Abhinav; Adinarayan, Thyagaraju (7 July 2021). "Wise valued at $11 billion in record London direct listing". Reuters. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Used cars: the tortoise can beat the hare for investors". Financial Times. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  22. ^ Browne, Ryan (1 October 2020). "UK start-up Cazoo doubles valuation to $2.6 billion as car sales shift online amid pandemic". CNBC. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  23. ^ Clarence-Smith, Louisa. "Purplebricks overhaul continues with agents becoming employees". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  24. ^ "Property portals hand control to homeowners". Financial Times. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  25. ^ Curwen, Edward. "Purplebricks valued at £240 million for IPO". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  26. ^ "Purplebricks float expected to value online estate agent at £240m". the Guardian. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  27. ^ "Fusão de Zap e VivaReal cria nova holding". Valor Econômico (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  28. ^ "OLX Brasil conclui compra do Grupo Zap por R$ 2,9 bilhões". Canaltech (in Brazilian Portuguese). 6 November 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  29. ^ Reader, Ruth (8 March 2022). "The 10 most innovative health companies of 2022". Fast Company. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  30. ^ "US Patent Application for MANY-TO-ONE TRANSACTION FULFILMENT SYSTEM Patent Application (Application #20120095872 issued April 19, 2012) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  31. ^ "US Patent Application for SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERY OF DYNAMIC PERSONALIZED SLIDERS ONLINE Patent Application (Application #20120059757 issued March 8, 2012) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  32. ^ "US Patent Application for PLUG-IN SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSUMER CREDIT ACQUISITION ONLINE Patent Application (Application #20120023011 issued January 26, 2012) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  33. ^ "US Patent Application for LOAN AUTOMATION SYSTEM Patent Application (Application #20150278941 issued October 1, 2015) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  34. ^ "US Patent Application for METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AN ONLINE LOAN Patent Application (Application #20140279390 issued September 18, 2014) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  35. ^ O'sullivan, Alan. "Payday loans: Wonga, best of a bad bunch?". This is Money. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  36. ^ "Winners of the 2017 Digital Entrepreneur Awards". Digital Entrepreneur Awards. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  37. ^ "The 2010 Growing Business Awards". realbusiness.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  38. ^ Butcher, Mike. "The Europas European Startup Awards 2010 – The Winners and Finalists". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  39. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  40. ^ "Megas Digital Innovation awards 2011: Winners". The Guardian. 25 March 2011. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  41. ^ "Megas Digital Innovation awards 2012: Errol Damelin". The Guardian. 19 October 2011. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  42. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  43. ^ "The JC Profile: Errol Damelin, payday loan king". Jewish Chronicle. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  44. ^ Sandy Rashty (3 October 2013). "Jewish Care attacked over Wonga appearance". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
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  • References supporting change: see above

Shmomo2 (talk) 12:44, 15 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done for now: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Bowler the Carmine | talk 09:56, 22 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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