Bryan Feinberg , CEO of Zephyrnet in NYC and Partner-at-Large of Blockchain News recently interviewed South African Internet entrepreneur CEO Vinny Lingham on his latest startup Civic.com . Lingham was the co-founder & CEO of Gyft – a mobile gift card company, backed by Google Ventures before leaving to launch Civic. Civic has already received $2.75m in funding from Social Leverage, along with a number of VC firms active in the bitcoin and Blockchain space including Pantera Capital, Blockchain Capital and Digital Currency Group. Feinberg: Can you give us an overview of how Civic is changing the world? Lingham: Civic aims to give every consumer the ability to control the use of their personal information by connecting them to a network of responsible companies that will send notifications and permission requests to them, in real-time, whenever someone attempts to access or use their personal information. Feinberg: When did you have the infamous “Ah Ha” moment regarding Blockchain? You are launching in an area of Blockchain where there are not too many companies nailing it? How is your approach different? Lingham: The Ah-ha moment was when I was sitting on Necker Island, at a Blockchain conference hosted by Richard Branson. We spent more than 50 percent of the trip discussing how the Blockchain could be used for identity, and, more importantly, the later possibilities of using Blockchain to provide seamless and error-free voting applications. I recognized that this space was wide open and that there was indeed an opportunity to build an important company here. Feinberg: There has been so much noise in the industry lately about vertical commercial breakthroughs? When you anticipate your first profitable quarter? Lingham: Profitability is not a metric that important companies need to focus on while in the startup phase. If Facebook or Google focused […]
