The Blackdot Story
Blackdot was founded by Shaun O’Mahony, one of our non-executive directors. Having begun his career at Detica (now BAE Applied Intelligence). Shaun developed a strong interest in using online data to solve pressing real-life problems.
He realised that, whilst there was lots of software out there that helped organisations make sense of internal data, there was nothing that specialised in making sense of the wealth of external data available on the internet. We set about creating a product to change this and the first online investigations platform was created.
Blackdot soon became a small team. Based in Cambridge, England, we grew the company organically by providing super fast, accurate risk consulting services using our ground-breaking software, Videris.
In 2015 Blackdot started selling Videris as a standalone product to government clients, where it proved instantly transformational. Since 2016 we have wound down our risk agency activities and focused solely on our software, expanding to other sectors. Videris quickly gained a reputation for being the best open source (“ OSINT”) investigations software available, and gained customers across the government, banking, corporate and professional services sectors. We invest heavily in improving and expanding Videris, releasing updated versions every couple of months.
Since 2018, Blackdot has taken on investment from experienced entrepreneurs and investors, who are committed to supporting the company and our customers as we bring the full power of software to making best possible use of the exploding volumes of open source data.
Blackdot has come a long way, but Videris has remained a one-of-a-kind product. You won’t have seen anything like it before and it will transform the way you conduct investigations.
Our Team
Adam de Courcy Ling
Executive Chairman
Adam leads the company's strategy and operations. He is an experienced software sector investor and director. He was an investor and director in fintech software vendor Multifonds, sold in 2015 to Temenos AG, and lead investor and director at an artificial intelligence vendor, Expertmaker, sold in 2016 to eBay Inc. Prior to this, he was an M&A banker in the technology sector in Europe, as Head of European Technology M&A at Credit Suisse until 2003 and a partner at Arma Partners until 2010.
Shaun O'Mahony
Founder and Non-Executive Director
Shaun founded Blackdot Solutions in Cambridge in 2011. Since then he has seen it take on investment and new directors, and grow to a team of 30 staff working in offices in Cambridge and London. Prior to founding Blackdot, Shaun worked as a Solutions Architect at Detica (now BAE Systems).
Antonia Edmunds
Head of Go To Market
Antonia heads the Go To Market team, responsible for defining and optimising the go to market strategy to drive and scale revenue growth. This role spans sales strategy, marketing, business development and partnerships. Antonia has over 15 years experience in enterprise software and start up SaaS solutions in both Europe and Asia, and is passionate about technology, data, and in building teams that deliver growth and client success.
Dr. David Walsh
Head of Test
David joined Blackdot Solutions in 2018 and heads the software testing team. David has worked in testing for the past nineteen years, following an eclectic academic career in Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence and Medical Imaging.
Mark Stevens
Head of Client Engagement
Mark leads Blackdot’s client engagement team, advising clients across the public and commercial sectors on how they can improve their investigative capabilities through the use of technology and data. Mark’s team also supports clients through their on-boarding and deployment of Blackdot’s software ensuring they get maximum benefit. Prior to joining Blackdot, Mark spent ten years in government service managing investigations and operations across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Stuart Clarke
Head of Product
Stuart is an internationally respected investigations and cybersecurity expert with extensive business management, consultancy, and leadership expertise. He has advised the United Nations’ peak cybersecurity body ITU and led the product strategy of several award-winning cybersecurity and investigation solutions. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a BSc(Hons) in Computer Forensics.
Charles Brown
Business Development Director
Charles has spent the past decade working in both operational and business development roles for a number of risk management and corporate investigations consultancies. He has managed complex investigative assignments for leading banks, law firms and major corporates and is well placed to understand the requirements of prospective clients drawn from these sectors.
Alex Davies
Head of Customer Success
Alex joined Blackdot in 2013 and has played a key role in shaping Videris, as well as establishing Blackdot's Customer Success team. He has extensive experience using Videris to answer a wide range of investigative questions for an array of blue chip clients. He now leads our customer success function, using that experience to help our customers leverage Videris and apply it to their complex investigations.
Rebecca Lindley
Marketing Lead
Rebecca coordinates Blackdot’s marketing and brand awareness activities, in order to drive awareness of Videris and its capabilities. She works with users and experts in Videris’ target sector to understand how Videris can improve outcomes in different types of investigations. Before joining Blackdot Rebecca led the first marketing function at another Cambridge software company. She has a degree in Russian and German from Cambridge University.
Advisors
Sir Mark Rowley QPM
Board Advisor
Sir Mark Rowley was one of the most senior police figures in the UK with 31 years of service. He led UK Counter Terrorism Policing, 2014-2018. Previously, he held positions as Assistant Commissioner at the London Metropolitan Police and Chief Constable of Surrey Police. Sir Mark holds a mathematics degree from St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Matthew Redhead
Advisor – Financial Crime, Government
Matthew is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. He has extensive experience in financial services, having trained as a ‘front office’ banker and worked in various senior roles in financial crime risk functions. He has previously served as a government official at the MoD, and on secondment at the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) at the Home Office.
Jennifer Hanley-Giersch
Advisor – Financial Crime
Jennifer is a co-founder and managing partner of Berlin Risk, co-founder of BCF Partners, Chairwoman of ALL AML, and founding and board member of the ACAMS Germany Chapter. She has been working in investigations and anti-financial crime for twenty years and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Jennifer has published widely on compliance topics relating to financial crime issues and has helped develop industry standards and tools around customer due diligence and risk analysis.
Samantha Sheen
Advisor - Financial Crime
Sam Sheen has worked for almost 15 years in the field of financial crime prevention. Her experience spans working as MLRO, Data Protection Officer, Chief Compliance Officer to various roles at the Group level. Sam worked for several years as a regulator, overseeing the enforcement of AML/CFT cases and setting up the first AML/CFT supervisory division for the financial services regulator in Guernsey. She also works with the European Commission in various capacities providing expertise, advice and support.
