such as team building, future of a domain to technical sessions. A mini startup expo was also held where selected produc
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WHY WAS DISRUPT ASIA 2016 ORGANIZED The number of technology related start-ups in Sri Lanka have grown over the last several years. While a considerable number have succeeded, quite a number of start-ups have also failed due to several reasons. One of the major reasons for the failures of start-ups is not having the proper guidance/mentoring as well as financial issues. “Disrupt Asia 2016” looks to address these issues by bringing some of the best in the industry as well as startup veterans to share their experience with new start-up founders and address many burning questions budding entrepreneurs have. The participants will be able to participate in several sessions carefully curated by the organizing committee to provide the best possible knowledge on these topics to the participants. These topics range from non-technical topics such as team building, future of a domain to technical sessions. A mini startup expo was also held where selected product startups will be given the opportunity to exhibit their startups to the attendees.
TARGET AUDIENCE OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016
STARTUPS
ENTREPRENEURS
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS INTERESTED IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
INVESTORS
MEDIA
CORPORATES
GOVERNMENT STAKEHOLDERS OF THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
THE CONFERENCE
AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 The primary activity of Disrupt Asia 2016 was the conference. More than 35 speakers across a broad range of expertise shared their knowledge and experience through panel discussions and individual talks during the event.
Opening Session The conference started off at 9.00am on the 28th of July 2016 with the welcome remarks by the Chairperson of ICTA Mrs. Chitranganee Mubarak. In her remarks, the Chairperson noted the efforts of the ICTA towards uplifting of the startup ecosystem of Sri Lanka and the impacts it has made. This was followed by the opening keynote of the day delivered by the Chief Operating Officer of Startup Genome (formerly Startup Compass) and the Co-Author of the Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking Report Mr. J.F. Gauthier on the topic “The Rise of Startups”. Mr. Gauthier spoke on how innovation and entrepreneurship leads to new businesses being created and having a positive effect on the economy of a particular country as well as the world in total. He mentioned that startups have disrupted many traditional industries such as the taxi cab industry, the tourism industry etc and how these have made competition and thus improving the standards of services provided. With the end of the morning keynote, the conference was divided into two parallel rooms for further sessions.
Main Stage The main stage was where majority of the sessions were conducted. The sessions conducted were. • • • • • • • •
Building the Startup Ecosystem in Sri Lanka Bootstrap vs Funding Fintech for tomorrow Growth Hacking Role of a CTO Walk the Talk The Investment Journey Future of Education
Stage 2.0 Due to time constraints, the conference was held in two rooms in parallel. In addition to the sessions in the Main Stage, several more sessions were conducted at Stage 2.0. They are • • • • •
Idea to Reality Picking Your Dream Team Create Value in Late Stage Investments Corporate Growth Through Innovations Think Global from the Start
Evening Session The 4th part of the conference, the Evening Session started off with a talk by Managing Director and CEO of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka Mr. Muhunthan Canagey on the topic Digital Sri Lanka. In this session, he outlined the Digital Sri Lanka program that is being carried out by the ICTA and how startups can get involved in the various stages. This was followed by the evening keynote by Founder and CEO of Kiip Mr. Brian Wong on the topic “The Cheats of How to get Ahead”. Mr. Wong is one of the youngest CEOs in Silicon Valley and is the founder of Kiip, a mobile advertising platform used by several of the Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Wong spoke on the 10 cheat codes he has for entrepreneurs to succeed. How he applied them on his entrepreneurial journey and what other ways those cheat codes can be applied by entrepreneurs. The keynote was well received and appreciated by all those who attended the conference.
INVESTOR FORUM AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 The Disrupt Asia Investor Forum 2016 was yet another unique part of the event. This was a mini conference / workshop that was specifically organized for investors and high net worth individuals. This workshop was done in partnership with Angel Labs. Tugce Ergul – Co-founder of Angel Labs, Sheel Tyle - Principal & Co-Head Seed Practice at New Enterprise Associates and Arteen Arabshahi - Senior Associate of Karlin Ventures conducted the workshop in which more than 50 investors and high net worth individuals participated. The Disrupt Asia Investor Forum 2016 was supported by the United States Embassy in Sri Lanka, Crowd Island and Lanka Angel Network. Following the workshop, it was also decided that a local chapter of Angel Labs be started in Sri Lanka together with a local partner. Initial discussions for this has also been started with Crowd Island being the local partner.
Angel Labs Angel Labs is the world’s first investor accelerator for high-net-worth individuals & executives all around the world. They foster diversity and inclusiveness in tech investing. Their goal is to make an impact on the liquidity side of the entrepreneurial equation, build connected angel investor & VC communities globally and create smart capital for entrepreneurs. Angel Labs has a presence in over 30 countries around the world and by becoming a member of their chapter, access is available to all of their chapters in the world.
STARTUP BATTLES AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 Three startup battles / pitching competitions were organized at Disrupt Asia 2016 by private sector organizations. Each battle had their own room, own judges and a unique set of startups to be pitching at their battle. All startups exhibiting at Disrupt Asia 2016 were eligible to pitch in these battles. The startups were asked for their choice of battle they want to pitch and the selections were prioritized with the selections of the battle organizers choice and selections were made.
Slingshot Startup Battle was organized by the Slingshot program run by Hemas Holdings PLC. 8 startups battled it out during this battle. Startups who pitched at this battle were selected to be interviewed for the Hemas Slingshot program
John Keells X startup battled was organized jointly by John Keells Computer Services (JKCS) and SGIT (both under the John Keells Group). 11 startups participated in this battle. Grubz, a food delivery startup was judged the winner of this battle and was given the opportunity to participate in the John Keells X main program in which the winner will be able to win LKR 2 Million.
Voltage 230 was a unique kind of startup battle that was organized during Disrupt Asia 2016. This battle was modeled on the popular Shark Tank tv show. In this, actual investors were brought in as judges and investments were available on the spot for qualifying startups. considerable interest was shown by startups to participate in this battle in which 11 startups battled it out. Although none of the 11 startups received immediate funding, the organizers have informed that investors who judged the battle have asked 4 startups to meet them after the event for private discussions on funding.
STARTUP SHOWCASE AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 As part of providing opportunities for startups, a startup showcase was also organized alongside the conference. 34 product startups that had a minimum viable product or prototype were allowed to showcase their startup. Exhibitors were charged a registration fee of LKR 10,000.00 per startup which also included two passes to attend the conference and a booth to showcase their startup as per international startup showcase standards. Many high net worth individuals who were present at Distrupt Asia 2016 commented on the startup showcase and the level of commitment shown by their founders towards making the startup a success.
Through feedback received from the startups that showcased, in total, all 34 startups have made contacts with close to 175+ potential clients interested in their products and 90+ potential partnerships.
STARTUPS THAT WERE SHOWCASED AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 01. 3D CONCEPT STUDIO COMPANY (PVT) LTD.
18. LAWENVOY (PVT) LTD.
02. 4 AXIS SOLUTIONS (PVT) LTD
19. LET US KATHA (PVT) LTD.
03. ADROITLOGIC (PVT) LTD.
20. LIVEROOM (PVT) LTD.
04. ADROTEC (PVT) LTD.
21. LONGWAPPS AKA “WEBINVOICEMAKER”
05. AGAYA HOLDINGS (PVT) LTD.
22. LUTENDO INTERACTIVE (PVT) LTD.
06. AUTHANEX
23. MOGO SOLUTIONS (PVT) LTD.
07. BIZPAY (PVT) LTD.
24. MYDEAL.LK (PVT) LTD
08. BUSBOOKING.LK
25. PARAQUM TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD.
09. CALCEY INNOVATION LABS
26. PAYHERE (PVT) LTD.
10. CBA SOLUTIONS (PVT) LTD. AKA “PAYABLE”
27. PAYMEDIA (PVT) LTD.
11. EMOJOT (PVT) LTD.
28. PICKFI HOLDINGS (PVT) LTD. AKA “HYPEHASH”
12. ENHANZER (PVT) LTD.
29. RED STONE (PVT) LTD. AKA “MIRACLEOFASIA”
13. ERBEN LABS (PVT) LTD. AKA “NICNAC”
30. SENZMATE (PVT) LTD.
14. ETENDERS (PVT) LTD.
31. SHOUTOUT
15. EVENSEL-IT (PVT) LTD.
32. SIPLO.LK (PVT) LTD.
16. GLOBAL TUTOR (PVT) LTD.
33. SYNERGEN TECHNOLOGY LABS (PVT) LTD.
17. GRUBZ (PVT) LTD.
34. VINOTA NETWORKS (PVT) LTD.
NETWORKING EVENING AT DISRUPT ASIA 2016 Networking Evening With the conference coming to an after nearly 9 hours of conference, the attendees were invited for a networking evening with food and beverages together with live music.
SPEAKERS OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016
Brian Wong
JF Gauthier
Co-founder and CEO of Kiip
COO for Compass
Arunesh Peter
Ruwindhu Peiris
Venura Mendis
Hiraash Thawfeek
Director of Projects, ICTA
CTO at WSO2.Telco
Vice Chairman of SLASSCOM
Co-Founder and CTO at Creately
Sheel Tyle
Muhunthan Canagey
Chandika Jayasundara
Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana
Principal & Co-Head Seed Practice at NEA
CEO & Co-Founder of Cinergix
Anushka Wijesinha Chief Economist at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
MD/CEO of ICTA
Founder/CEO of WSO2
Channa De Silva CEO of LankaClear
Tugce Ergul
Mangala Karunaratne
Jayomi Lokuliyana
Dr. Sujata Gamage
Kanishka Weeramunda
Nathan Sivagananathan
Co-founder of Angel Labs
Team Leader, Human Capital Research at LIRNEasia
Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe
Co-founder and CEO of Calcey
Dean of the Informatics Institute of Technology(IIT)
Founder of PayMedia
Dulith Herath
Founder and CEO of Kapruka.com
Co-founder and CEO of zMessenger
Arteen Arabshahi Senior Associate of Karlin Ventures
Conrad Dias
Fayaz Hudah
Business Coach and Entrepreneur
Rohan Muttiah
Board Member & Chief Growth Officer at MAS Holdings
Group CIO at LOLC
Chief Operating Officer at National Development Bank PLC (NDB)
Jiffry Zulfer
Adnan Issadeen
Bhanuka Harishchandra
CEO of PickMe
Systems Engineer at Buffer
Founder of SurgeViral
SPEAKERS OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016
Ehantha Sirisena
CEO/MD of OMAK Technologies
Nalina Wijesundara
Vice President, Technology Shared Services - Sri Lanka - Pearson Lanka
Kanchana Thudugala
Director - Special Projects at ICTA
Dhanika Perera
Lahiru Pathmalal Co-founder and CEO of Takas
Ganindu Nanayakkara
CEO & Founder at Bhasha & Innovator/Software Engineer PayHere at 99X Technology
Sharanyan Sharma
Chairman and Founder of Extreme SEO Internet Solutions
Tharindu Dassanayake Founder and CEO at Square Mobile
Dilendra Wimalasekere CEO & Co-Founder of ReapDigital
Indulekha Nanayakkara Head of Digital Marketing at Loops Solutions
Mudith Uswatta
Director - Sales and Product Marketing at Calcey
Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Writer / Marketer at WSO2
Suren Pinto
CEO at Wavenet and Founder and CEO at Wifyer
TESTIMONIALS OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016
Thiwanka Manamendra BizPay (Pvt) Ltd.
Exposure at events like this really matters for startups. Dhanika Perera PayHere (Pvt) Ltd.
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Got some really good feedback how to take our product to the market.
Sameera Nilupul LiveRoom (Pvt) Ltd.
It provided us the insights of Sri Lankan start-up ecosystem and how to harvest from available resources to achieve success.
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Prasad Hettiarachchi Agaya Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.
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First time, I was able to speak in front of investor. I have never done that, thankful to you guys i was able to receive such a good experience.
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We got an Investor Perspective on what we are building.
Buddhika Jayawardena Siplo (Pvt) Ltd.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016 PRINT MEDIA
ONLINE MEDIA
PARTNERS OF DISRUPT ASIA 2016
www.disruptasia.today
