Startup icon Dr. Cornelius Boersch reaffirms commitment and future investments in Sri Lanka
Daily FT: Having invested in the tech sector for thirty years across frontier markets spanning South America to Asia, Dr Cornelius 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 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 AI-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 their journey at Hatch Works, a hub for startups.
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 startups 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 startup ecosystem.
Dr Boersch’s visit underscores his commitment to supporting the Sri Lankan digital ecosystem, pledging potential investments in promising startups, and facilitating international market access and funding for such enterprises.
OSL take:
It is evident that Sri Lanka’s economy is on a growth path with many foreign businesses/investors expressing interest in exploring the expanding opportunities in the country. With the country targeting on becoming a regional hub with a resilient and growing economy, there’s an expansion in business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. Most of these opportunities indicate the untapped potential in key economic sectors in Sri Lanka. With international business icons like Boersch expressing confidence in Sri Lanka’s potential business growth and keenness to continue investments in Sri Lanka, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in the country. The country’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the strong trade ties enjoyed with other countries also serve as a boost to promote business and investments. With Sri Lanka engaged in many promotional campaigns in foreign markets and the move to expand trade ties with more countries will further boost the country’s attraction as a regional hub.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20240401/Z_3 |