From Colombo to Cambodia: Seedstars Summit crowns 14 startups in Southeast Asia

Seedstars Summit 2019 in Cambodia with top 14 startups from Southeast Asia

Seedstars Summit Asia, the largest seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, has recently come to its peak during the latest edition of Seedstars Summit Asia in Cambodia.

Seedstars is a leading emerging market startup community and investor which selected 14 among the most promising startups from Asia in the presence of over 300 guests. They will represent the region at the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner and up to $500,000 in equity investment. It’s not very often that a fledgling startup from Sri Lanka gets the opportunity to pitch on a global stage, but the young exuberant team behind iLoan Sri Lanka, just experienced an opportunity of a lifetime. 

iLoan Sri Lanka is a loan aggregator engine for trade credit which connects lenders to borrowers through a network-driven credit management model. Regarded as a novel and innovative concept, it was practically unheard of before Seedstars Summit Asia 2019.   

“We believed in the potential of iLoan from the getgo and we personally felt that this team was worth every effort,” said Enosh Praveen from ReadMe, the Digital Media Partner for Seedstars Summit Asia 2019. “I also had the privilege of witnessing the Seedstars Summit Asia organising team behind the scenes in Phnom Penh, and one cannot help but notice the unmatched passion, drive and dedication they put into bringing this event to life.” 

“For iLoan it was a great opportunity to meet fellow innovators and disruptors from the region and we got a taste of what to expect on the global stage,” said Lakshan de Silva of iLoan. “The networking opportunity was equally beneficial as it gave us a platform to connect with potential investors and partners.” 

Prior to the main event, an intensive bootcamp to teach 22 startups on how to scale up their businesses was led by Seedstars CIO Charlie Graham-Brown and Seedstars Head of Expansion Middle East and Asia Kennedy Kitheka. It was followed by an investor forum where startups had one-to-one meetings with top-notch mentors and investors. 

“Seedstars is an amazing network for startups that participate, as they not only go through mentorship and investment but also gain access for networking with global mentors, investors and fellow startup founders. Anyone who attends these summits are also able to connect with the global seedstars family. This regional summit too was a great opportunity for the hosting nation to showcase their ecosystem for exposure globally.” said Ambassador for Seedstars in Sri Lanka Mangala Karunaratne. 

iLoan has shown great strides from Disrupt Asia 2019, organised by the ICTA Sri Lanka, to Seedstars Summit Asia 2019. “They have all the right ingredients to clinch the title as the Seedstars Global Winner in Switzerland next year,” says Enosh Praveen. “It’s encouraging to see Sri Lankan born and bred startups taking on the global stage, as LayUp did when it became the first Sri Lankan startup to become a global finalist in 2017, and we hope more startups will take the lead forward.”