Venture Engine 2021 applications close on October 22

Sri Lanka’s startup acceleration programme, Venture Engine, will soon wrap up its submissions phase, with applications set to close on October 22.

This date is fast approaching, so don’t miss out on the chance to participate in 2021’s program, which will help startups immensely in accelerating during these unprecedented times.

Geared toward Seed and Growth stage startups that are interested in scaling, the Venture Engine program is also open to entrepreneurs opting to submit new, early stage business ideas with huge addressable markets. Visit www.ventureengine.lk to learn more about the application process. 

Founded by BOV Capital and the Indian Angel Network, Venture Engine is partnered by the Lankan Angel Network (LAN) with the Ford Foundation being the program’s Platinum Sponsor in 2021. 

Held over October, November and December 2021, and providing much needed support for the local startup sector during this pandemic, Venture Engine returns for its tenth year with plans to help innovative and scalable startups solve a genuine pain point.

This year’s Venture Engine program will, for the fourth time, offer a very special Impact Entrepreneurship Award that highlights for-profit Social Enterprises. This initiative is once again being promoted by Indian Venture Capital firm Aavishkaar, a Gold Sponsor for Venture Engine 2021. 

Other sponsors and partners for 2021 include ICTA, SL@100, Council for Startups, SLASSCOM, HATCH, Dialog Axiata PLC, KPMG, PwC, AOD, Shift and CPP.

Following the closing of the Venture Engine 2021 application process, selected participants will go through several rounds of filtering and workshops, during which they will pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and domain experts. 

According to BOV Capital Co-Founder, and LAN Founder, Prajeeth Balasubramaniam, “Sri Lanka can become a very powerful Technology and Innovation Hub, and BOV Capital will spend the next 15-20 years focusing on this mission. Given the country’s highly skilled tech talent, along with its geopolitical location accessing over US$ 7 trillion in GDP across India, SEA and GCC within five hours flying time, we believe this idea of ‘coming from Sri Lanka and building for the world’ is very real.”