Partners’ profiles

LLEW CLAASEN

Founding Partner

Llew is a go-to-market strategist with almost two decades of senior management experience in cryptoassets (since 2012), digital product management and digital marketing.

He co-founded Clicks2customers (rebranded to www.nmpidigital.com) with Vinny Lingham, now a global digital marketing agency with annual billings in excess of $100 million and Synthasite (rebranded to www.yola.com).

Llew is also the former Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, the original, the oldest and the largest Bitcoin advocacy organization globally, headquartered in San Francisco, U.S.

Llew has a Masters degree in the Management of Technology & Innovation and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

VINNY LINGHAM

Founding Partner

Vinny Lingham is a South African Internet entrepreneur who is currently the co-founder & CEO of Civic Technologies, a blockchain-based decentralized identity management platform.

As a serial entrepreneur, he co-founded:

  • Gyft – a mobile gift card company, backed by Google Ventures that was sold to First Data Corporation in 2014
  • Yola, Inc. (formerly known as SynthaSite), a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 start-up that provides free website building, publishing and hosting services
  • Global search marketing firm incuBeta and its subsidiary Clicks2Customers
  • He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape.com, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn Cape Town into a technology hub

Vinny previously served on marketing advisory boards for Nasdaq-listed companies ValueClick and Yahoo and is a member of the global, high-impact, entrepreneur organizations Endeavour and YPO. He appeared as an investor on Dragon’s Den South Africa season 1 (2015) and Shark Tank South Africa season 1 (2017). Vinny lives in San Francisco.

Akash Maharaj

AKASH MAHARAJ

General Partner

Akash is a seasoned investment professional with over 20 years of experience spanning structured debt and mezzanine finance, private equity, and venture capital, with a focus on the African market. As Managing Partner and founder of IAM Capital Advisory, he assists entrepreneurs and founding teams in navigating the fundraising process. He also serves on the Investment Committee at the University Technology Fund. Akash’s career includes senior roles at Standard Bank, Investec, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank, and he qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte.
He has significant experience investing in and structuring mezzanine debt solutions for high-growth companies. At Investec, he was previously a transactor with its Private Capital team, which was focused on structured finance and principal investments for established growth companies. In this role, he utilized structured debt, equity, and mezzanine capital to help entrepreneurs establish and grow their businesses. His experience also includes a role as a Structured Equity Transactor, where he provided structured derivative solutions to large listed corporates.
Akash’s accomplishments include creating one of South Africa’s first corporate venture investing units at Investec Bank and spearheading Standard Bank’s Investment Banking re-entry into principal investments. As a qualified chartered accountant (CA(SA)) and CFA charterholder, he combines rigorous financial modeling with strategic capital optimization while focusing on his passion for high-growth technology businesses that make a significant impact on the African continent. Internationally experienced across Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia, Akash regularly contributes to discussions on African investment trends and capital structuring out of his new home in the Netherlands.

LESEGO TLADINYANE

General Partner

Lesego Tladinyane is a venture capitalist and quantitative finance specialist who serves as Functional Head of DP World Ventures at Newtown Partners. He leads a global corporate venture capital fund with particular strength in African and Middle Eastern markets. His cross-disciplinary expertise bridges debt capital markets, structured products, and technology investing across emerging economies.

Tladinyane began his career as SVP Debt Capital Markets and Fixed Income Trading at Deutsche Bank & Nedbank, where he managed multiple corporate and government credit issuances while trading senior fixed income and interest rate derivatives. This experience in complex financial instruments, credit structuring, and risk management provides deep analytical capabilities in hybrid debt-equity evaluation and subordinated capital structures. His transition into venture capital through an MBA at UCT Graduate School of Business bridges traditional credit markets with growth capital deployment.

Since joining Newtown Partners, he has shaped the investment strategy of DP World’s $30M Innovation Venture Fund, focusing on later-stage growth and structured financing opportunities. He has led investments across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, supporting scaling businesses like MDaaS Global and Chefaa with hybrid debt-equity solutions. His quantitative background in actuarial science enables sophisticated financial modeling, while his published thought leadership on startup data products and exit readiness reflects his strategic approach to growth-stage investing.