Sri Lanka’s Rs.100mn Angel Fund accepts applications from startups

The investment team for the Angel Fund. From left:  Kishan Nadarajah – Principal, BOV Capital,  Chalinda Abeykoon – CEO, Lanka Angel Network, and  Aloka Gunasekara – Programme Manager, StartupX Foundry

• Not limited to tech but also open to verticals such as BFSI, agriculture, education, healthcare, supply chain and logistics
• Fund will accept applications for the current evaluation cycle until August 31, 2020

The Angel Fund, an initiative of the Lankan Angel Network (LAN), established with the support of ecosystem development partner Ford Foundation, has begun accepting applications from early-stage startups in Sri Lanka with regional and global growth potential which are not limited to the tech industry. 

These could encompass innovative ideas in the verticals of BFSI, agriculture, education, healthcare and supply chain and logistics, to name just a few of the Fund’s areas of interest. 

Established in early 2020, the Angel Fund is a Rs.100 million fund, and a first of its kind in Sri Lanka. It is managed by LAN’s fund management team, which will identify and evaluate opportunities every three months for investments across the island, including in traditionally underserved regions. 

Fund applications are available online (https://bit.ly/3eZ1t47) and via the Lankan Angel Network Facebook and LinkedIn pages. The Fund will accept applications for the current evaluation cycle until 31st August 2020.

The Angel Fund aims to invest in approximately six to ten early-stage startups in Sri Lanka, irrespective of their sector or geographic location. In addition to providing investment, the Angel Fund offers a pool of centralised professional services, from accounting, finance and legal advice, to local and overseas market access expertise. 

Additionally, a dedicated team is on hand to fully support these startups throughout their journey, connecting them with domain experts that will be required to fast 
track their success.     

“The entire world is a much different place than it was when we launched the Angel Fund in early March. We believe entrepreneurs now have a much bigger role to play in Sri Lanka’s economic revival,” Lankan Angel Network CEO Chalinda Abeykoon said.

An early-stage startup fund created by the Lankan Angel Network, the Angel Fund supports high potential startups that can be scaled across the country, and even regionally or globally. The Fund comprises 100 Angel investors, including many high-profile entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. They represent almost a dozen industries with proven competencies in over 20 
functional domains. 

Approximately 30 percent of the fund’s Angel investors reside outside Sri Lanka in countries like Singapore, USA, Canada, UK, UAE and Australia, facilitating never before seen access to regional and global markets for early-stage startups.