2018 has been a long year with much happening over the past 365 days. As we look back, we’re quite happy. We’ve worked with great people to share great stories from the Sri Lankan tech industry with you.
We’ve worked with folks like the Yarl IT Hub, ShoutOUT, Venture Frontier Lanka, and ICTA to support entrepreneurs. Similarly, we’ve worked with IEEE Student Branches to support students along with developers & Gamer.LK to promote eSports. The local tech community consists of a large variety of people. To support this community is why we started ReadMe and what we’ll be continuing to do so in 2019 and beyond.
We’ve also worked with many of the corporates in the industry. A few names among the many are Hutch, Huawei, 99X Technology, ISM APAC, and the London Stock Exchange Group. Together, we’ve helped them create content that you might find valuable. That’s how we make money to keep the lights running and our coffee mugs full to tell more great stories about technology in Sri Lanka. So here’s our list of memorable moments from 2018.
WSO2 became profitable
Tyler Jewell reflecting on a successful year for WSO2 back in January 2018
With clients like eBay, Uber, and Boeing its success is used to pitch the entire Sri Lankan IT industry. That’s why this was a bit surprising. In January, WSO2 recorded its first profit in 12 years. Furthermore, the company also became the 8th largest Open Source Company in the world.
Startup Weekends galore
A glimpse of what we found at the many Startup Weekends in Sri Lanka
It began in January at Kandy. From there it went to Colombo, Batticaloa, Negombo, Mannar, and to Rajarata. The past year saw Techstars Startup Weekends take place in cities it had never visited before. Additionally, 2018 was also the year we saw the Youth Edition of the global initiative in Sri Lanka.
Government IT projects are still messed up
Basically every government IT project in Sri Lanka
At the start of the year, we saw the government launch a website that allowed you to check if you were eligible to vote in the local elections. A month later, we saw a much-hyped launch of another website. This second website was supposed to make government services more accessible. The same can be said of the open data initiative, which is still outdated as it was when launched.
Digana, Cambridge Analytica, Fake News
With the Digana riots, we saw the consequences of fake news (Image credits: Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters)
To say that Facebook had a rough year would be an understatement. Globally, it’s faced massive backlash following the revelations of Cambridge Analytica and a series of data breaches. Locally, we’ve had to deal with Facebook along with other social networks being used to spread fake news. Not just once but twice. The first time was the Digana riots and the second was during the political crisis that unfolded six months later. Sadly, despite Mark Zuckerberg’s words, Facebook isn’t too keen on solving this problem.
Sri Lankan eSports was recognized and went regional
The cyber athletes who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Games 2018 (Image Credits: GamerLK)
2018 was a big year for Sri Lankan eSports. We saw our usual local tournaments by Gamer.LK like the Inter-School and Inter-University eSports Championships. But alongside these tournaments, we saw eSports officially being recognized by the National Olympic Committee. Furthermore, we also saw a Sri Lankan eSports team participate in the Asian Games and we’d snatch third place at the League of Legends Finals. Finally, the year ended with teams from the South East Asian region coming to Colombo and participating at the In-Game South Asia Cup.
The IT industry went down south
In the past, SLASSCOM has usually done only one IT Week for a year. These initial events took place in Jaffna and Kandy. But this year we saw SLASSCOM host not one but two IT weeks in the Southern Province. The first of these was in Galle and the second in Matara. Both of them focused heavily on encouraging both kids and teachers.
The Race to 5G and consolidation
Thirukumar Nadarasa – CEO of Hutch Sri Lanka speaking to the press regarding the merger between Hutch Sri Lanka & Etisalat Sri Lanka
As the end of the decade draws closers, telecom operators across the world are racing towards 5G. Locally, we saw Mobitel begin work on implementing 4.5G networks. Meanwhile, Dialog launched an NB-IoT network with Ideamart hosting a hackathon around it & announced it’ll be launching 5G networks in 2019. Furthermore, Hutch finally launched its 4G network earlier this year and announced it’ll be expanding this islandwide after its merger with Etisalat is finalized.
Disrupt Asia 2018: The startup ecosystem in one place
One of the largest events that we saw in 2018 was Disrupt Asia. Organized by ICTA, it’s always been a place where we can find everyone from the startup ecosystem in one place. That’s why we were surprised when Sachindra Samararatne said they initially weren’t planning on having the event. But we’re glad that ultimately they did and we found a lot of stories this year.
We saw more Sri Lankans developing video games
Some of the games we saw from Sri Lankan indie developers. From L to R: Extraction Valley, Koombiyo, Unbroken
Developing video games is something very few companies in Sri Lanka have considered. Arguably, the only one that found some form of mainstream fame was Arimac. It produced the local hit Kanchayudha in 2017. While not a commercial success, we met teams (some of them located in Kandy and Ratnapura) that said they were inspired to develop their own video games after seeing Kanchayudha. Furthermore, Arimac itself has announced that it’s working on another game for 2019.
The Yarl IT Hub & its efforts to introduce technology
Over the years, we’ve regularly attended the Yarl Geek Challenge. The annual hackathon organized by the Yarl IT Hub is held for both undergraduates and school students of the Northern Province. And this year’s edition featured speakers like Rajan Anandan – General Manager of Google India. Yet, while the hackathon is what the Yarl IT Hub is famous for, it’s also running a coding accelerator called Uki, which it is planning to expand to increase its impact and help develop the Northern Province.
Trace Expert City vs The Railway Department
Officials from the Railway Department attempting to build a fence at Trace Expert City
In 2017, we covered the origins and the story of Trace Expert City. The IT park you see in Maradana is a nice sight. Yet that’s only the first stage of a very elaborate plan. However, the execution of that plan is yet to go beyond these initial stage. While the UDA has yet to approve these plans, 2018 also saw the IT park arguing with the Railways Department for its expansion.
Venture Frontier Lanka was born
When it was launched in March, Heminda Jayaweera – its cofounder shared that while Sri Lanka had the technical talent, it required an incubator. Since then, Venture Frontier Lanka has had a busy year. It’s done a series of boot camps, workshops, and webinars for those interested in entrepreneurship. All this culminated in a massive event, which was their National Startup Challenge that saw 30 startups taking part and many valuable lessons from industry veterans.
Meetups, meetups, and more meetups
Meetups. There’s at least one happening every month
One constant of the Sri Lankan tech calendar has been meetups. On any given month, you can be sure to find a few happening somewhere in Colombo. In 2018, we saw a variety of meetups. Some organized by students like those of the IEEE Innovation Nation. Some organized by corporates like the legal essentials for startups by eLawyers and the ISM APAC .NET Meetup. Others organized independently like Spike and the Talk the Walks series.
The rise of coworking spaces
Coworking spaces are booming. Earlier this year, we learned what it takes to build one from Sajani Amarasiri – cofounder of Colombo Cooperative
The first to popularize this trend was Business Hubs. In 2018 we saw an explosion of coworking spaces in Colombo with the likes of Hatch, Home Tree Working, Liquid Spaces, and many more. They’ve become a popular spot for events both large like Seedstars Colombo and small likeShoutOUT Connect. We also learned first-hand what it takes to build a coworking space from Sajani Amarasiri – the cofounder of Colombo Cooperative.
Foundations for a fin-tech boom?
2018 saw banks taking steps toward digitization and Dialog taking steps towards banking
Interestingly, in 2018 we saw banks take steps toward embracing fin-tech. In April we saw Nations Trust Bank launch their Open API Banking Platform. Similarly, we’ve seen People’s Bank embracing a vision of digitization with the Just in Time Group. Additionally, we also saw Dialog entering the fray having acquired a banking license, launching Genie, and forming partnerships with AliPay and Mastercard.
From ride sharing to food delivery and more
Both PickMe and Uber expanded their services in 2018 with both companies launching food delivery in Sri Lanka
Last year, we saw an explosion of ride-sharing apps that began challenging PickMe and Uber. While many of those apps are still challenging the giants, PickMe and Uber have expanded greatly. PickMe having received a $2.5 million investment earlier this year has expanded its service area, started offering trucks and began food deliveries. Not to be outdone, Uber too expanded its offerings with tuks, trips beyond Colombo, and introduced Uber Eats to Sri Lanka.
Xiaomi comes to Sri Lanka
In 2018, we saw Xiaomi entering the Sri Lankan market
In 2018, we saw quite a few mid-range smartphones being launched in Sri Lanka. The strongest amongst these being the Pocophone F1. The smartphone by Xiaomi has piqued the interest of many. The phone was launched alongside a few other Xiaomi phones as the Chinese manufacturer officially entered the Sri Lankan market.
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