# Errol Damelin — Full Index

> Builder, investor, immigrant. Founded Supply Chain Connect, Wonga, and Tide. 75+ investments since 2011 via Dust Road Ventures.

Expanded version of `/llms.txt` for AI retrieval.

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## Biography

Errol Damelin is a founder and investor — built three companies, made 75+ investments, now invests through Dust Road Ventures.

Born in Johannesburg in 1969 and raised in Klerksdorp — a small mining town in the western Transvaal. Grew up in a house where debate was the dinner table sport.

Studied Business Science at the University of Cape Town. Elected to the Student Representative Council. Detained in 1989 for organising demonstrations against apartheid-era detention without trial.

Left South Africa in 1992 for Israel. Served in the Israeli Defence Forces (1993-94). Completed an MS in Management through the joint Boston University / Ben-Gurion University programme. Worked at YLR Investment Management (1995-97), then joined Barzelan, a steel wire manufacturing start-up in Beit Shemesh.

Moved to London in 1999 — the third of three countries that define him. Founded Supply Chain Connect in 2000, a hosted B2B procurement platform. Survived the dot-com crash; acquired by ChemConnect in 2005.

Founded Wonga in 2006 — built the world's first real-time AI system in consumer credit. Wonga grew to over $500M in annual revenue in five years. Resigned as CEO in November 2013 at the revenue peak. Generated $100M+ in annual cash flow with a customer NPS of 73.

Recognised in 2010-11: TechCrunch Founder of the Year (2010), Guardian Digital Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year (2011).

Began full-time seed investing in 2014, formalised initially as Rhythm Ventures.

Co-founded Tide in 2015 — digital banking for small businesses. The third of three companies built.

Formalised the investment practice as Dust Road Ventures in 2024 — a seed-stage firm deploying permanent private capital.

## The three companies founded

- **Supply Chain Connect** (2000-2005) — B2B procurement SaaS, acquired by ChemConnect.
- **Wonga** (2006-2013) — pioneering consumer credit. AI-driven decisioning. Revenue peaked above $500M annually.
- **Tide** (2015-) — digital banking platform for small businesses, co-founded.

## Investment portfolio (selected, 19 named publicly)

Wise (invested pre-revenue), Purplebricks (first investor), Tide (co-founded), Cazoo, VivaReal, Citymapper, Cleo AI, Sure, Elliptic, Dig.ai, HiBob, K Health, Modifi, Ravelin, Seat Unique, YuLife, Zoe, Earnin, Canopy Connect.

## Geography

Four continents. Klerksdorp → Cape Town → Tel Aviv → Boston → London. The Kalahari is still home in the way that matters most.

## Pages

- [Homepage](https://erroldamelin.com/) — full life timeline (5 chapters, ~30 entries, fully expanded)
- [About](https://erroldamelin.com/about) — narrative bio + press kit
- [Writing](https://erroldamelin.com/writing) — essays
- [Contact](https://erroldamelin.com/contact) — ed@dustroad.vc

## Related

- Dust Road Ventures: https://dustroad.vc (the same Person entity in JSON-LD via shared `@id`)