Charles Delingpole
Description
Charles Delingpole is a highly regarded entrepreneur and active angel investor within the UK's burgeoning financial technology (FinTech) ecosystem. Best known as the founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage, a leading RegTech platform leveraging AI to combat financial crime, and previously as a co-founder of MarketFinance, a business finance provider, Delingpole brings deep operational expertise and a founder-centric perspective to his investment activities. His investment thesis is strongly aligned with his professional background, focusing predominantly on innovative FinTech solutions that address critical needs in financial services infrastructure, retail investment, and global payments.
Delingpole's angel portfolio showcases a clear preference for companies poised to disrupt or significantly improve existing financial paradigms. He has made at least 10 angel investments, primarily in UK-based startups. Notable among these is his early and consistent support for Thought Machine, a cloud-native core banking platform, where he participated in their $12 million Seed round in 2016 and continued to invest through subsequent rounds. He also backed PrimaryBid, a platform enabling retail investors to access public company fundraisings, from its $8.6 million Series A round in 2019. Other investments include remittance service Taptap Send and core banking platform 10x Banking, demonstrating a broad yet focused interest across the FinTech spectrum.
While specific individual check sizes are not publicly disclosed, Delingpole's status as a successful serial entrepreneur, having built and scaled two significant FinTech companies, suggests he provides substantial capital. ComplyAdvantage, for instance, has raised over $100 million from institutional investors, indicating the scale of ventures he is familiar with. As an angel, he typically participates in early-stage rounds, from Seed to Series A, often alongside institutional venture capital firms. Beyond capital, startups benefit from his extensive network, strategic guidance, and firsthand experience in navigating the challenges of building and scaling a FinTech enterprise in a regulated environment.
Investor Profile
Charles Delingpole has backed more than 38 startups, with 3 new investments in the last 12 months alone. The firm has led 0 rounds, about 0% of its total and boasts 4 exits across its portfolio.
Investment Focus Highlights
- Concentrates on Seed, Pre Seed, Series A rounds (top funding stages).
- Majority of deals are located in United Kingdom, United States, Isle of Man.
- Strong thematic focus on Financial Services, FinTech, Software.
- Typical check size: $50K – $250K.
Stage Focus
- Seed (47%)
- Pre Seed (34%)
- Series A (11%)
- Series Unknown (5%)
- Angel (3%)
Country Focus
- United Kingdom (71%)
- United States (8%)
- Isle of Man (3%)
- The Netherlands (3%)
- Spain (3%)
- Mauritius (3%)
- South Africa (3%)
- Colombia (3%)
- Cameroon (3%)
- Hungary (3%)
Industry Focus
- Financial Services
- Fintech
- Software
- Payments
- Banking
- Saas
- Finance
- Information Technology
- B2b
- Debit Cards
Frequently Asked Questions
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