Top German tech investor reaffirms future investments in Sri Lanka

From left: SLING Mobility Advisor and Executive Committee Member Darshan Maralanda, Early Stage Venture Capital, Mountain Capital Management AG Managing Director Dr. Felix Exner, Lion Ventures Group Head of Operations, Risk and Compliance Ramisha Karunaratne, Super Angel Investor and Mountain Partners Investment Director Dr. Cornelius Boersch and Lion Ventures General Partner Love Yadav

Dr. Cornelius Boersch, a top German tech investor, has reaffirmed commitment and future investments in Sri Lanka.

Having invested in the tech sector for 30 years across frontier markets spanning South America to Asia, Dr. Boersch maintains that all markets exhibit similar dynamics. With this perspective, he first visited Sri Lanka in October 2021, emerging as one of the earliest global tech investors to commit to post-COVID recovery through Mountain Lion Ventures, alongside its General Partners, Asad Sultan and Love Yadav.

Despite the challenging times, Mountain Lion Ventures has invested close to a million US dollars of foreign investments into Sri Lanka, spanning prop tech, electric mobility, gender-smart funds and the development of an artificial intelligence-based tech platform for the Horeca sector.

Revisiting for a second time to assess the ground situation and review investments made by Mountain Lion Ventures, Dr. Conny, as he is referred to, alongside Love Yadav, commenced his journey at Hatch Works, a hub for start-ups. 

Addressing a group of prominent businessmen in conversation with Nisthar Cassim, Dr. Boersch shared insights gained from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic globally over the past three years. While acknowledging Sri Lanka’s recent crisis, he advised against a prolonged negative mindset, citing his experience in other frontier markets where post-crisis growth typically exhibits a “hockey stick” pattern.

Dr. Boersch engaged with several companies in which Mountain Lion Ventures has invested, particularly highlighting Liwe Communities, a prop-tech platform digitising gated communities and Sling Mobility, an energy-as-a-service platform for electric vehicles, which he identified as having the potential to become Sri Lanka’s first unicorn.

Throughout his 36-hour visit, Dr. Boersch met with various start-ups spanning F&B, Healthtech, and beyond. Notably, he spent time with Hatch Works Co-Founder Jeevan Gnanam, reconfirming his admiration and long-term engagement with this world-class, homegrown co-working space and start-up ecosystem.

Dr. Boersch’s visit underscores his commitment to supporting the Sri Lankan digital ecosystem, pledging potential investments in promising start-ups and facilitating international market access and funding for such enterprises.