The Lankan Angel Network (LAN), one of the largest network of angel investors, recently held an Investors Night, where members and other potential investors were updated on happening locally and globally, in the startup ecosystem.
Held in association with LAN’s ecosystem partner Ford Foundation, the LAN Investors Night was also the setting for the announcement that the Rs. 100 million Angel Fund, launched by LAN in 2021, has been fully deployed. The Fund made investments in eight startups, namely MintPay, Chakra Suthra, Spectrify, Billable, QuickHelp, Ruwini Jayarathne Jewelry, True by Tina and Magicbit. Following the full deployment of the Angel Fund and in line with global trends, LAN is planning to soon launch its follow-on fund, which will be most helpful in accelerating the growth of its startups.
Additionally, this event featured Keynote Speakers Dr. Clarence Tan, a renowned futurist and former Head of AsiaPac at Singularity and Padmaja Ruparel, Co-Founder/President of the Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Founding Partner of the US$ 55 million IAN Fund; who spoke on the importance of angel investing and having different types of investments available, as well as the need for follow-on funding.
Angel Investor, Dr. Tan noted that the first question he asked when evaluating potential investments was why the founders were doing it. For example, is it solely to make money? If so, they could move on if a bigger project came along. So, his investments were focused on talented people with the right purpose.
Ruparel, spoke on the beginnings of IAN and how it initially had an 18 to 20 per cent failure rate, which was an acceptable figure on par with global trends. But more troubling was that, during the early days, an additional 30 per cent of investments had to wind down due to a lack of follow-on funding, which the IAN Fund was set up to address.
LAN’s current Chairperson, Prajeeth Balasubramaniam; “Ecosystem building was always a part of LAN since its inception. But, due to a lack of funding in the country, LAN will over the next two years place a greater emphasis on building the investor ecosystem in a sustainable way for this asset class.”
Balasubramaniam added that this fund aims to accelerate the expansion of the startup asset class in Sri Lanka, contributing to the country’s economic resurgence. “By supporting the growth of the startup entrepreneurship asset class, we anticipate a positive impact on various aspects such as job creation, increased tax revenue, enhanced research and development (R&D), and more.”
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