Innovative products to demo at ABAF 2017 ‘Start-up Corner’

Sri Lanka’s first Asian Business Angel Forum (ABAF), to be held next week, features a ‘Start-up Corner’ where innovative Asian region, and local, start-up ventures will showcase new offerings for conference delegates as well as the general public. For two days, starting on 11 October, there will be over 30 stalls set up at the official venue for ABAF 2017, the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel, which will provide a backdrop for a sensational assortment of ideas and tech to be demonstrated.

Pregbuddy, Mosurance, Orasi, PlushBox, Aniwa.lk, FYI, InsureMe.lk, IgniterBee, Grubz, Roar.lk, Virtuarism, BusSeat.lk, Takas.lk, OMAK Technologies, Linear Squared, Simplex Delivery, 99RetailStreet, TripVillas, Zigzag.lk, Saraii Village, Ready Payments, Payable.lk, oDoc, SitRight, Tracified, Zepto, Omentra, Park and Pay, Alakazam, Maturify, nCinga, Bot Factory, Ceylon Coconut Company, BeltRoad, Cognitive Computing, Island Craft, HyperHash, Babylon Labs, FleetManager, mydeal.lk, O2 Store, QuickHelp and Sky Management Systems will be showcased at ABAF 2017.

Pregbuddy, for instance, is a medical consultation mobile app for pregnant women, while Mosurance is a usage based platform for motor insurance. Orasi is an input/output device for the visually impaired, PlushBox is a service offering premium curated gift boxes, BusSeat.lk provides purchasing for bus tickets and Roar.lk and Aniwa.lk publish news and lifestyle stories online.

Additionally, ABAF 2017 features over 75 prominent foreign delegates from more than 25 countries including USA, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Israel, Dubai, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, France, Germany and others. It also welcomes a number of prominent business angels, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, government officials and high net-worth individuals (HNIs), as well as internationally respected organisations such as the TVS Group (India), Proparco France, KfW (Germany), DEG (Germany), DGGF (Netherlands), FMO (Netherlands), Citibank Hong Kong, Blume Ventures (India), Jungle Ventures (Singapore), Gf (Mauritius), Cloudwell (Bangladesh) and Qlapa (Indonesia).

At the same time, ABAF 2017 offers up an impressive speaker line-up, including Dr. Clarence Tan, former Ambassador for Singularity University; Dr. Yehoshua (Shuki) Gleitman, Chairman of GIBF (Guangzhuo Israel Biotech Fund); Dr. Samson Tam, Chairman of the Hong Kong Business Angel Network (HKBAN); Dr. Mark Hon, Chairman of Business Angel Network South East Asia (BANSEA); David Chen, Co-founder of AngelVest and Founding Chairman of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of China; Brigitte Baumann Gervais, Founder and CEO of Go Beyond Early Stage Investing (Scotland); and Jayesh Parekh, Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures (Singapore).

Rajan Anandan, VP for SEA and India at Google; Padmaja Ruparel, President of the Indian Angel Network; Pankaj Jain, Member of the Investment Committee at Wadi Accelerator (New York); Jordan Green, Chairman of ABAF/Melbourne Angels; and Sanchayan Chakraborty, Partner at Aavishkaar will also speak at the event. A detailed ABAF 2017 agenda and speaker line-up, as well as information on how to sign up for the conference, is available at www.abafsrilanka.com.

Kicking off on 11 October, ABAF also encompasses the sixth edition of Venture Engine, Sri Lanka’s trailblazing program for entrepreneurship acceleration and empowerment, which will be held on ABAF’s first day. As a result, Sri Lankan ventures will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, via ABAF, to directly access a much larger, regional network of investors, experts and mentors.

A strategic partner for this year’s Venture Engine, the Lankan Angel Network is the host of ABAF 2017. The Lankan Angel Network is Sri Lanka’s pioneering Business Angel Network with over 75 member investors who have collectively invested over Rs. 2 billion in 25 local start-ups, while Venture Engine is a product of a 2012 collaboration between BOVCapital and the Indian Angel Network. For 2017, venture capital firm Aavishkaar serves as Venture Engine’s Platinum Sponsor, while Orion City is the Gold Sponsor, Asia Securities is a Silver Sponsor and Dialog Axiata is the Official Telecommunications Sponsor. Visit www.ventureengine.lk for more details.