Shanelle Kandiah
A few months ago, I came into contact with an individual who relocated to Sri Lanka in 2003 to launch a venture capital firm. I was curious to find out why he returned and to discover what his business was all about.
The man I came to know was Prajeeth Balasubramaniam, Co-founder, Managing Director and Founding General Partner of Blue Ocean Ventures (BOV). As outlined in BOV’s website, it is a Sri Lankan based venture capital firm “set up with the aim of assisting innovative Sri Lankan start-ups to accelerate their growth.” Having seen a lack of seed-stage capital for Sri Lankan start-ups, Balasubramaniam and his partner Rajan Anandan saw a void in the Sri Lankan business community they believed they could potentially help fill.
Despite 20 years spent abroad leading established businesses in the UK, Japan, and Australia, Balasubramaniam had always felt a desire to return to his place of birth. Since the launch of BOV, Balasubramaniam’s company has provided investment to young and mature businesses throughout Sri Lanka, allowing them to get off the ground with market validation.
Following the establishment of BOV, the Lankan Angel Network (LAN) was created in 2012. A member of the Asian Business Angel Forum, LAN has helped approximately 20 startups with 5 million dollars in funding, and today has over 75 members from different industries. “Comprised of individual investors, venture capital funds and corporate sponsorship representatives from around the world . . . LAN identifies key challenges that entrepreneurs face at each stage of their life cycle, and aims to enable them to overcome those obstacles and accelerate their business to the next level via access to potential investors and mentors in various disciplines.”
With the goal of building the start-up ecosystem in Sri Lanka, LAN has hosted several “Hackathons” throughout the country. The 36 hour idea-incubation session for start-up enthusiasts, developers, designers, marketers, and managers, aims to encourage like-minded individuals to share ideas in building a start-up. Winners of the program are selected to enter the Venture Engine Program which gives them direct access to overseas investors and mentors.
As mentioned in “This Tech Hub Wants to Turn Jaffna into the Next Silicon Valley”, BOV has gone even further in its encouragement of Sri Lankan based start ups and unique business ideas with its support of the Yarl Geek Challenge, a technology competition directed towards Sri Lanka’s youth.
Although Balasubramaniam was quick to point out that his business ventures have “a long way to go” in shaping the development of the country’s start-up environment, it cannot be denied that Balasubramaniam and his partner have made great efforts in fostering the growth and education of numerous Sri Lankan businesses.
When asked where he would like his businesses to be 10 years from now, Balasubramaniam shared his dream of seeing BOV as a pioneer and model on which many more companies will mushroom to help further the development of Sri Lanka’s start-up industry.
I am certainly left curious to see the impact of Balasubramaniam’s companies on Sri Lanka’s future business and technology landscape.
If you would like to read more about BOV, LAN or the Yarl Geek Challenge:
LAN: lankanangelnetwork.com/default.php
Yarl Geek Challenge: tamilculture.ca/this-tech-hub-wants-to-turn-jaffna-into-the-next-silicon-valley/
