BOV Capital sets up Rs 100 cr fund for Sri Lankan startups

BOV Capital has set up a Rs 100 crore fund to focus on Sri Lankan startups with participation from investors like Google VP South East Asia and India Rajan Anandan and Prajeeth Balasubramniam.
Ambit, a leading investment bank in India, will be the fund partner for BOV Capital.
The fund, which will focus on early stage startups, plans to invest in 7-10 companies with an investment in the range of Rs 5-10 crore each, BOV said in a statement.
While the target is to raise Rs 100 crore, the fund has already closed in Rs 30 crore.
The funds have been raised from high net-worth individuals in India and Singapore and the founding partners -- Anandan, Balasubramniam and Eric Wikramanayake.

The fund will concentrate on investing and working closely with Sri Lankan technology startups that can build large regional and global businesses, it added.
"Over the past 5 years, we have seen the emergence of an exciting startup ecosystem in Sri Lanka... Skills in computer science and engineering, combined with the global exposure that many of our entrepreneurs have, is leading to the creation of very interesting software product companies and Internet companies that have tremendous regional and global potential," Balasubramaniam said.
"BOV Capital has received huge interest from investors in India and Singapore, who are excited about investing in a resurgent Sri Lanka," Ambit CEO Structured Finance and Private Wealth Hrishikesh Parandekar said.