Tech Startup Support Program

Spiralation Seed Funding Program

Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Tech Startup Support and Seed Grant ‘Spiralation’ is now accepting applications for the 2022 cohort. Spiralation is a program that focuses on providing seed funding for technology entrepreneurs.

If you are a tech startup less than 3 years in existence, you are eligible to get up to LKR 1.5 Mn as a grant. The grant will subsidize infrastructure, training, business development, market access opportunities, mentoring including both technical and managerial competencies which are essential for the growth and sustainability of the company.

Apply for Spiralation Cohort 2023

If you are interested in applying and want to know more about the program, please attend the applicant briefing session on 10th of May 2023 at 3.00 PM. Please register for the briefing session by clicking here. We will explain the whole program and clear any doubts you have.

Deadline for Applications: 26th May 2023 11.59 PM Sri Lanka time

Overseas and local business promotion

The need for market access is high among startups. Since startups very rarely are able to break into markets on their own, the ICT Agency through business promotion activities provide startups to showcase their products to the world. Startups are given affordable opportunities at various platforms and intern they gain customers by speaking to the top-level management directly rather than going through different channels.

Overseas and Local Startup Conferences

The number of technology related start-ups in Sri Lanka have grown over the last several years. While a considerable number have succeeded, quite a number of start-ups have also failed due to several reasons. One of the major reasons for the failures of start-ups is not having the proper exposure and knowledge in running a startup and other business aspects. Under this program, the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka will organize startup conferences with the aim of sharing knowledge through thought leaders to entrepreneurs and also provide support for startups to attend startup conferences internationally to gain much needed exposure and knowledge.

Visit www.disruptasia.today for more information

University visits

University visits and Hackathon’s will be carried out to promote entrepreneurship and identify budding entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. The cost will cover transportation, venue, refreshment, payments to experts, multimedia, tokens of appreciation and other stationary which will be required.

Expert Engagement Events

Experts who have specific domain knowledge will be engaged to address more technical and critical elements of a startup such as software patenting, information system and web security, API integration etc. ICTA will evaluate and engage with consultants to facilitate these sessions. The cost will cover venue, refreshment, payments to experts, multimedia and other stationary which will be required.

Training Workshops

Workshops will be organized on different subject matter which is essential to run a company such as marketing, accounting, legal and administrative, software architecture etc. The workshop will be designing in an interactive manner so that the companies can discuss their individual company issue and will be no longer than 5 hours. The cost will cover venue, refreshments, multimedia and stationary which will be required.

Startup Ecosystem Branding and in-Depth Assessments

ICTA has been working with Startup Genome since 2017 and Sri Lanka was included in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) in 2017. Apart from the global report, the member assessment report which covered startup success and ecosystem performance against other startup ecosystems has become really helpful to identify the lacking areas of the ecosystem of Sri Lanka.

Directory for Sri Lanka Technology Startup Ecosystem

StartupSL was an initiative by the Ministry of Digital Infrastructure & Information Technology and is currently being operated under the Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology Division, Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka together with ICTA and the volunteers of the startup community. The aim is to collectively lobby on behalf of the technology startups in the country and registered startups will be given priority when considering for the proposed benefits extended by the government.

It is the single largest online platform for startups and freelancers in Sri Lanka and it connects startups, as well as other key stakeholders such as investors, mentors and incubators.

Visit at www.startupsl.lk for more information.

10,000 Ideas Startup Challenge

In achieving the industry goal of 10,000 tech start-up ideas by 2024, ICTA is to initiate a campaign named ’10,000 IDEAS’ which conveys a national vison of having predetermined standards in the tech ideas coming up and also presumed to be globally scalable. The campaign connects all ecosystem enablers who contributes to the massive job on getting common individuals transformed to entrepreneurs.

The widespread regional network and community builders are expected to join hands in this national endeavor to create a viable entrepreneurial culture and to connect budding entrepreneurs in different stages to trigger their potential to grow and accelerate the nosiness ideas.

Download the Expression of Interest (EOI) here

After completing the EOI, email it to 10000@icta.lk by April 22, 2022 at 3.00 p.m.

For more inquiries, you can reach Akeel Ahamed on 0775223367 or akeela@icta.lk

Supporting startup initiatives and other organizations

Sri Lanka being a young ecosystem in the world, it is important that initiatives for startups and entrepreneurs are conducted in a manner that would help the startups. It is a well-known fact that many initiatives fail due to financial issues therefore, for startup initiatives that create an impact in the startup ecosystem, the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka would support the initiative by financially contributing upto 50% of the costs of the event. This is done with the intention that initiatives organized do not fail due to financial reasons.