Sri Lankan start-ups can learn from the best on entrepreneurship, business and technology

24th July 2018: Colombo – Sri Lanka: Disrupt Asia 2018, Sri Lanka’s Premier Start-up Conference and Innovation Festival, was officially announced today. This year’s event is the 3rd edition of this ground-breaking event and is set to take place from 4pm to midnight on 11th August 2018 at the Trace – Expert City.

Organized by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Disrupt Asia 2018 is supported by the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment, International Partner – IKT Norge, Knowledge Partner – PWC, Supporting Partners – GIZ Sri Lanka and Trace-Expert City, Payments Partner – PayHere, Volunteer Partner – GudPpl, Eco System Partner – SLASSCOM, Makerspace Partner – Igniter Space, YouTube Partner – IdeaHell, Social Innovation Partner – UNDP Sri Lanka, Hosting Partners – Calcey Technologies, Orel Corporation, WSO2 and CodeGen and Creative Pavilion Partner – Gamer.LK.

Disrupt Asia 2018 is the progression of an increased effort by the ICTA to broaden the start-up landscape of the country and inspire the next wave of growth. Each and every aspect of Disrupt Asia 2018 has been carefully thought out to drive innovation and inspire the entrepreneurial mindset of all participants.

The conference will discuss the need for policy and strategy. Entrepreneurs sharing their successes and failures will provide inspiration to take the plunge. Experts from Sri Lanka, USA, Netherlands, UK and India will share their knowledge on AI, digital marketing, security and set the stage for disruptive thinking around STEAM education, creative industries and social entrepreneurship. Disrupt Asia will also address the need to build a second tier of angel investors through the unique Investor Forum.

Prof. Rohan Samarajiva – Chairman of ICTA opined, “As a result of the Academic Workshop on Entrepreneurship at Disrupt Asia last year, ICTA initiated the Educate to Innovate workshops for school teachers and ImagineIF startup boot camps for undergraduates to influence and inculcate entrepreneurial attitudes. This year, with the addition of the Innovation Festival, we are bringing in a whole new dimension to the event as we look to promote creativity in all its forms to ignite a different breed of entrepreneurs. We look forward to an exciting, informative event that will help all participants to re-imagine the possibilities of tomorrow.”

The Innovation Festival at Disrupt Asia 2018 is an entrance free opportunity which will showcase many technology innovations from Sri Lanka and also include works of art and digital activations that the public can experience and interact with. In addition, the Disrupt Asia Start-up Expo will be where technology start-ups will be presented with the opportunity to showcase their products to the attendees of the conference and visitors of the Innovation Festival.

The Investor Forum will be exclusively for professionals who wish to invest in technology start-ups. Participants will get valuable insights courtesy of an introduction to the start-up ecosystem in Sri Lanka, a knowledge sharing session conducted by experienced angel investors and a panel discussion on legal procedures applicable to start-up financing. Last year’s Investor Forum resulted in ICTA forming a special group – Disrupt Asia ecosystem builder’s forum – consisting of the major stakeholders. The knowledge forum acts as a decision maker towards building a stronger start-up ecosystem.

The Conference of Disrupt Asia 2018 will consist of 4 main sections – Main Stage, Stage Two, Investor Forum and Workshops – that will take place in parallel. The Disrupt Asia 2018 Start-up Battle, a competition where entrepreneurs will pitch their start-up and the top 3 selected in the preliminary rounds will pitch at the Grand Finale of the Disrupt Asia Start-up Battle on the Main Stage. The winners of the Disrupt Asia 2018 Start-up Battle will receive cash prizes and the chance to participate in the Oslo Innovation Week 2018 in September. Applications for the Startup Battle are now open at www.disruptasia.today/startupbattle while tickets for the Conference can be purchased online via https://disruptasia.today/buytickets/.

Gamer.LK, the leader in Esports and Digital Entertainment experiences in Sri Lanka, is bringing the thrill of competitive video gaming to your workplace with the Mercantile Esports Championship – powered by Dialog Gaming. The Championship being organised for the third consecutive year will be held on 21st and 22nd of July 2018 at Trace Expert City and is open exclusively to teams and players from any registered business or organisation in Sri Lanka.

The event which is recognised as the largest Mercantile sports event in Sri Lanka, provides a unique platform for participants to represent their companies and workplaces across a number of team games (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch and Special Force 2) and individual games (FIFA 18, Mortal Kombat XL, Project CARS, Tekken 7 and Clash Royale) as well as a women’s league (Mortal Kombat XL, Mario Kart 8 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted).

In addition to the competitive titles, participants will also be able to take part to compete in finding Sri Lanka’s Fastest eRacer. Complete with Red Bull racing seats, racing wheels and pedals, large-screen TVs and the tracks on Project CARS, this is a brand-new concept devised by Gamer.LK and aimed at promoting simulation racing in the country.

Over 60 leading corporates from across the country took part in the Championship last year including industry leaders such as Abans, Brandix, Calcey Technologies, CodeGen, Dialog Axiata, GSK Sri Lanka, IFS, Janashakthi, John Keells Holdings, Leo Burnett, LSEG Sri Lanka, MAS, Nestle Lanka, Pearson Lanka, Pyxle, Sri Lankan Airlines, SyscoLABS, Virtusa Polaris, WSO2 being amongst them. After some exciting encounters, Virtusa Polaris emerged the Champions for the second year running with LSEG Sri Lanka and Dialog coming in second and third place respectively. Many corporates have begun to embrace Esports as an official company sport by establishing teams and recruiting talented cyber-athletes as well.

Esports, one of the fastest growing sports in the country, is governed by the Sri Lanka Esports Association, which is a member of the International Esports Federation. With the backing of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, Esports was introduced at the National Olympic Day celebrations of Sri Lanka as a future sport. Esports has been included in the Asian Games 2018 as a demonstration event, for which Sri Lanka is taking part.

The Mercantile eSports Championship is organised by Gamer.LK, who are also the organisers for successful annual events such as Play Expo (featuring Sri Lanka Cyber Games and Colombo Comic Expo). From 2016, Gamer.LK took the initiative to branch out Esports and digital entertainment into the three tiers of School, University and Mercantile as well.

The Mercantile Esports Championship – Powered by Dialog Gaming, who over the years have provided vital support towards the development of Esports in the country. Dialog Gaming is also promoting the competitive title Special Force 2 at the event.. In addition, they will be kicking off the Dialog Gaming League later this year, for which the Special Force 2 champions at Mercantile eSports will qualify. The overall winners of the League will get the chance to represent Sri Lanka at the Special Force 2 World Championships being held in Philippines.

Red Bull, who has supported the culture of Esports in Sri Lanka during recent years is the Official Energy Drink for the event with the Red Bull energy lounge in operation for gamers to energise themselves along with the Red Bull wings team carrying out sampling at the venue as well.

MSI came on board as the Technology Partner for the event. MSI officially launched their 8th generation high performance laptop series in April. The latest MSI laptops will be on display at the MSI experience stall at the event, with participants being able to test and feel sheer power and capabilities available on an MSI laptop.

Frimi is the Digital Banking Partner for the event. Frimi is a fast, easy and amazingly cool digital solution to earn, spend, shop and save, while enjoying awesome deals. Frimi will be offering a 35% cashback discount on all registrations paid through the Frimi app at the event.

TRACE Expert City is the Venue Partner for the event. TRACE aspires to transform Sri Lanka into an economically sound, knowledge based, techno-centric, sustainable business hub by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and professionalism by technologically reawakening our culture of excellence.

The Mercantile Esports Championship is supported by the Official Radio Sponsor Kiss FM, Official Online Store Play.lk, Digital Media Partner ReadMe and the Audio-Visual & Lighting Partner Elektro Revo.

For more information on the event and to register visit mercantile.gamer.lk and get in touch with Gamer.LK on facebook via www.fb.com/gamerlk for any clarifications.

The SLT Esports Cafe Challenge, the latest Esports event series of the Sri Lanka Telecom Esports brand concluded successfully yesterday. It was an action-packed event filled with exciting encounters and thrilling performances from over 300 Esports athletes who took part. There were a few major upsets as well with veterans being overcome by underdogs. The event was a ranked tournament recognised by the Sri Lanka Esports Association.

Overwatch takes center stage with PnX Syndicate coming out as Champions

The event kicked off at 9 AM with Overwatch which took center stage at the event, with many exciting and nail-biting encounters showcasing intense rivalries. The online qualifiers took place across the past week with the LAN finals being played at the event.

Tech Morph Too Old For This, Xiphos Esports Nitro Zeus, Noob Alliance Black Watch, Noob Alliance Team Catalyst, Noob Alliance The Money Team and Phoenix Gaming Team Syndicate made it to the LAN final rounds where Xiphos Esports team Nitro Zeus came out with an amazing performance of grit and determination to make their way into the finals overcoming nA Blackwatch who were tapped to be the better team between the two.

PnX Syndicate became the Champions of Overwatch and walked away with a cash prize and the bragging rights of continuing their streak as the best Overwatch team in the country.

PnX Jura beat his opponents in style to become the Tekken Champion

Tekken 7 saw a lot of new faces coming into the battleground with a lot of talent being showcased across some exciting games filed with insane combos and counter plays. One noticeable battle was the match between PnX.Amaterasu and nA.Blazer where PnX Amaterasu coming out on top after facing some critical sidestepping and counterplay manoeuvres. PnX Jura and PnX Amaterasu faced off against each other in a thrilling final with both players displaying their skills but with Jura eventually coming out on top with a 3-1 victory.

FIFA 18 crown claimed by PnX Sharpshooter

FIFA 18 drew the largest number of registrations with many looking to take a shot at winning the coveted first place. TM.Penaldo and nA.VeNoM went head to head in the other semis where the matchup was more even in terms of skill but Penaldo eventually making it through to the finals to meet PnX Sharpshooter who had shown tremendous growth since his previous tournament.

The finals were one of the most intense encounters with both players giving it their all but PnX.Sharpshooter managing to beat TM Penaldo to become the FIFA 18 Champion.

Xiphos continues their domination in Injustice 2

Injustice 2 saw an exciting set of matches coming out with some skilled plays and nerves coming out from some of the highest tier of competitive Injustice 2 players in the country. Xiphos Esports continued their dominance in Injustice 2 with X3 Redwire and X3 Rassyczar dominating the proceedings and ended up facing each other in the finals where X3 Rassyczar came out on top with a 3-1 victory.

X3 JKLV cruised to victory in Project Cars

The hype behind Project Cars continued with many players taking up the challenge behind the wheel. nA Brainfreeze Olaa and X3 JKLV faced off each other in the finals. Both players showcased some commanding victories over their opponents. Olaa looked to be in control in the finals until JKLV kicked into overdrive in the last minute and took the lead to never look back and went all the way to secure the victory.

Noob Alliance takes control of Clash Royale securing the top 3 spots.

Moving onto the title for Clash Royale and Project Cars, which are usually dominated by the likes of Joel “Daniel” Joung from n00b Alliance,  proceeded to go per normal, as he dominated against teammate rN’b in the finals with his unique decks and patience, along with some newly acquired tricks from his experience at the Asian Games qualifiers. Securing his usual number 1 spot once again taking the title 2-0

All in all the event was a great success showcasing some of the best talent that Sri Lanka has to offer in terms of Esports. As is the case with most SLT events, the turnout was topped only by the level of skill displayed by the players themselves. Sri Lanka Telecom has continued to stay true to its commitment of taking Esports and the online gaming experience to the masses over the last few years and has played a major role in improving Esports by continuing to organize top-tier gaming tournaments in the country. With the main SLT championship still to be held, we can expect even greater competition and skills as teams and players polish their skills and prepare for the final event.

The FIFA 18 qualifier for the Asian Football Gaming Championship (AFGC) was held in Colombo recently with the interest of many participants from across the country. Ahmed “Shark” Shaakir from Noob Alliance got the better of every opponent he faced and became the lucky winner of the qualifier. He is now representing Sri Lanka at the AFGC – considered to be Asia’s biggest FIFA tournament, which kicks off from the 13th to the 15th of July in Singapore.

Organised by the Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), the AFGC will showcase a total of 24 players from across Asia who will also be vying for a piece of the $2500 prize pool (LKR 390,000 approx).

Shaakir has been one of the most prominent FIFA players in Sri Lanka with multiple tournament finals under his belt and has proven himself a force to be reckoned with, beating down multiple high tier opponents during the qualifiers where he came out on top in the 4th bracket and then went to beat some of the best players in Sri Lanka and earned rights as the best FIFA player in the country right now.

Catching up with Shaakir, this is what he had to say on his way to take on the competition in Singapore.

“I would like to thank my sponsors Asus and Red Line Gaming for giving me the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the AFGC. Also special thanks to Noob Alliance for creating a platform to connect some of the best gamers from all over Sri Lanka.

My expectation of this tournament would be some really tough head on battles with the best in Asia. As it is a debut for Sri Lanka at this tournament, it would be nothing short of excitement.

Coming from a competitive background of tennis, I would be comfortable making key decisions under pressure at match situations which might actually help me overcome my opponents at this tournament.”

We wish Shaakir the best of luck in his games as he faces some of the best FIFA professionals in the region.

Players from all around the country will come together at one location to fight it out for the number one spot and to prove that they have what it takes to win the prize and prestige of calling themselves Sri Lanka’s best FIFA 18 player. During the last Xstation Esports League we saw Dishan Nithrananthan come out on top as the champion for FIFA 18. Will he be able to repeat it once again or will a new contender claim the throne?

Mobitel, the leading Mobile Service Provider in Sri Lanka aims to introduce new technology to the youth of Sri Lanka and plans through such engaging events. In strategic partnership with Gamer.LK, they have entered a new chapter, venturing into the continuously evolving and improving world of eSports.

Register now at : http://bit.ly/xstationfifa

The Sri Lanka Telecom Esports Cafe Challenge, that will be held on the 14th of July 2018 at the Keero Gaming Cafe, will be the next installment in the many illustrious tournaments hosted and organized by SLT. The expectations for the event will be high, given the hype that’s always surrounding SLT Esports events following the SLT Esports Championship and the SLT Regional Championship that was  held in Kandy.

SLT’s introduction of SLT Esports Championship in 2015, became an instant success with the largest prize pool for an Esports tournament being on offer. With massive turnouts and exciting Esports action, SLT has continued to stay true to their commitment towards bringing Esports and the online gaming experience to the masses by continuously introducing new and innovative Esports experiences. SLT has once again initiated a new series of events that promises to fuel the enthusiasm of the local Esports community.

The first-ever SLT Esports Cafe Challenge will showcase; Overwatch, FIFA 18, Injustice 2, Tekken 7, Clash Royale and Project Cars as the official gaming titles. With a prize pool of 190,000+ awarded across all the gaming titles, there will be nothing short of the best taking part at the event to prove to themselves as well as to those watching that they have what it takes to bring the championship home. Overwatch will be broken down into 2 segments with the initial rounds kicking off online early next week and followed by the final rounds taking place at the event on the 14th.

Sri Lanka Telecom, featuring SLT Broadband, famous for its low latency, dedicated and reliable broadband connectivity which is compulsory for competitive gaming, has continued to organise top-tier gaming tournaments in the country, with intense and adrenaline filled excitement.

The SLT Esports Cafe Challenge will be a tournament to remember, a gauntlet of hard-core gamers, both individuals and clans, will take part in their events and go head to head in an exceptional test of skill and strategy, so we encourage all gamers to be at this event, as it will undoubtedly be an unforgettable experience.

For more information on this event, visit http://www.slt.lk/esports/