The annual Venture Engine event in Colombo, Sri Lanka that started as a small, local event to fund and encourage early stage companies has scaled up significantly and now attracts global investors. The 16th edition of the event held last week in Colombo attracted about 20 investors from India, US, Singapore and Hong Kong. These included Pankaj Jain, partner, 500 Startups, Sandeep Murthy, founding partner, LightBox Ventures, Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Venture, Jan Metzger from Citi.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena also met up with the international investors delegation that largely comprised investors from India.

This year Venture Engine received 200 startup applications for funding out of which 10 made it to the finals. Hire1 a mobile app that helps customers deliver goods, booking cabs and other services was the winner of Venture Engine 2016. The runner up was a baby foods company Quebee Den. Direct2Door, a BigBasket kind of startup that delivers fresh vegetables and other household items was the second runner up.

Rajan Anandan, Co-Founder, Blue Ocean Ventures and Vice President & MD, Google South East Asia and India said, “this time there was a big focus on building B2B softwareBSE -4.96 % companies and SaaS startups. Half of the 10 finalists were non-tech ventures. Over the last four years winners have raised about $7 million.”

The Indian Angel Network (IAN), the largest group of angel investors in India has also invested in 10 Sri Lankan startups. Venture Engine 2016 attracted startups from wide ranging sectors including Information Communication & telecom (ICT), tourism, e-commerce, food & beverages, logistics, retail and education.

Source: Economic Times