This collaboration aligns to Hemas Group’s focus to explore ‘Open Innovation’ as a part of their corporate journey.
Speaking on the partnership, Group CEO of Hemas Holdings, Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson said,
“Through this partnership, we see significant potential for Sri Lankan startups, with the business community coming forward to create a new ecosystem by providing access to essential infrastructure, knowledge, and capital.
As we mark 75 years of enriching our communities, we are committed to invest in the country's future through this initiative and reinforce our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that empower families.”
Speaking more about Hatch’s vision, the Co-Founder and CEO Brindha Selvadurai Gnanam explained,
“We believe that entrepreneurs are catalysts for economic development and that collaboration drives innovation.
Hatch provides a comprehensive solution for startups through our bespoke programs, extensive mentorship support, and like-minded community”.
As an initial step of the ‘Hemas x Hatch: Slingshot’ program, a call for applications was extended for post-revenue startups operating in selected scalable industries such as Education & EdTech, FMCG, Healthcare, and Logistics.
The program kick started with the selection of 25 post-revenue startups who were invited to participate in a two-day intense boot-camp on 26th and 27th of August 2023.
During the programme, entrepreneurs were provided a high-quality immersive learning experience by industry professionals who provided in-depth perspectives into some of the fundamental topics in a startup journey.
This included Fine tuning your Value Proposition, Creating a scalable Business Model, Fundraising 101, International Growth Strategies and Navigating the journey of an entrepreneur.
This comprehensive approach ensured that startups not only solidified their core business concepts but also gained the essential tools for expansion and growth.
At the end of the Bootcamp, the 25 startups had the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of judges, out of which 8 have now been selected to advance to the next stage of the ‘Hemas x Hatch Slingshot Accelerator’ Program.
Over the next few months, the corporate accelerator implemented by Hatch, leveraging the extensive domain expertise and resources of the Hemas Group aims to refine the concepts ideas of the startups, broaden their perspectives, and provide them with potentially game-changing opportunities that facilitate their transition from startups to scale up.
Photo captions left to right Rizny Faisal – Director-Head of Group M&A and Strategy, Hemas Holdings PLC, Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson – Group CEO – Hemas Holdings PLC, Brindha Selvadurai Gnanam - Chief Executive Officer, Hatch and Mevan Peiris - Chief Programs Officer, Hatch.