Lankan startup Tracified wins scholarship from Founder Institute at Oslo Innovation Week 2018

The Tracified team

Tracified, an innovative digital platform for food traceability, that uses Blockchain technology to empower both vendors and consumers by providing end-to-end information on food products, was a key highlight at the Oslo Innovation Week 2018. The product, with its cutting-edge technology, saw it emerge the winner of the Best Oslo Sustainability Startup Pitch, amidst many other global startups. 

It was a pivotal moment for the Sri Lankan startup, the result of the hard work and dedication of a young team of dynamic Lankan engineers. Representing Sri Lanka at the Oslo Innovation Summit this year, the Tracified team made the trip to Norway to pitch its product to Scandinavian investors and scored a double victory. 

Tracified eCommerce Consultant Uthpalie Thilakaratna

Tracified Head of Development Dileepa Jayathilake

While piquing the interest of numerous investors, the team shone at the ‘Reciprocity for Sustainable Cities’ session, through a brief 45-second pitch. Tracified eCommerce Consultant Uthpalie Thilakaratna in this short time succinctly pitched the product, emphasising on the United Nations Sustainability Goals it is working towards – which saw the team win a Founder Institute Scholarship for the Best Oslo Sustainability Startup Pitch. 

“It was incredible to win such a great opportunity and to have our startup be recognised for the positive impact we’re trying to make in food supply chain transparency, to encourage responsible production and consumption,” observed Thilakaratna, commenting on the achievement.

“Traceability needs to be lifted from its traditional form of internal record keeping into reciprocal value communication to establish it as a core component of Industry 4.0. Blockchain’s role in achieving this is instrumental. Our success in delivering this will depend on how diligent we are in tailoring a technology which was originally made for financial transactions to one that enables authentic exchange of value chain data. This recognition shows that we are on the right track,” stated Tracified Head of Development Dileepa Jayathilake.

While this is its first international recognition since its beginnings one and a half years ago, Tracified was also recently felicitated at the E-Swabhimani Digital Social Impact Awards, where it emerged winner of the Business/Commerce category and recognised at the National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) 2017, where it won Gold in the e-Logistics and Supply Chain Management Category.

A Sri Lankan startup incubated by StartupX Foundry, Tracified aims to bring about complete transparency into the food industry. Consumers are faced with the challenge of identifying trusted suppliers and likewise, suppliers are looking for ways to prove their authenticity to consumers. Tracified harnesses latest technology to bridge this gap – a Cloud-based platform that integrates with any Internet of Things (IoT) device to provide a flexible platform that verifies supply chain data through blockchain and thus, establishes trust.