Formation

Contego was founded to help organisations improve fraud detection rates whilst lowering the cost of counter-fraud measures. It takes successful approaches to intelligence sharing developed to counter automotive advertising fraud and extends these benefits into other industry sectors. Secure and efficient intelligence sharing is at the heart of what we do.

Investors

Contego is a privately owned company funded by an investment from the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund and further backing from angel investors.

Management Team

Adrian Black – CEO & Founder

Whilst working as a Business Development Director for a division of DMGT plc, Adrian witnessed the growth of online fraud as a major problem. He then worked with the Metropolitan Police, Autotrader, eBay and others to help create VSTAG, an industry forum seeking to help combat growing levels of automotive advertising fraud. Adrian chaired VSTAG for its first two years and championed intelligence sharing as a means of reducing fraud across the industry.

Adrian’s early career was in software development and  database design and he joined his first internet startup as CTO back in the nineties. Taking on increasingly commercial roles, Adrian has acted as a consultant to clients including eBay, Experian and Autotrader before joining DMGT where he completed and then managed two acquisitions.

Adrian holds an MBA (Distinction) from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from Hull University.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrianjblack

Olli Astley – Chief Technical Officer

Olli brings extensive experience of internet innovation and deep technical expertise to the Contego team. He oversees our technical strategy and technical architecture as has responsibility for both UX and our Agile/SCRUM development processes.

Olli worked with Adrian at DMGT and in a number of previous ventures. With spells at Dell and Daimler Olli adds commercial as well as technical experience to the team and strengthens our entrepreneurial culture.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/olliastley

Vanessa Richards – Operations Manager

Vanessa brings strong operational and finance experience to Contego and has previous exposure to both early stage and software businesses. Vanessa runs our back-office operations including Customer Services and Finance. Due to her previous experience in the field, Vanessa also has responsibility for software testing.

Adrian and Vanessa have worked together in the past and bring very complementary skills to Contego.

Vanessa holds a MA (Hons) in Engineering from Cambridge University.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vrichards