The wealthy tycoon, a crypto-enthusiast and early backer of companies like Tesla Inc. and Baidu Inc., spent several days this year in Colombo filming an episode of the US show Meet the Drapers — in which start-ups compete for a US$1 million cheque from the investor and his family. At a recent speakers panel called Troubled Nation to Startup Nation, Draper urged Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to inaugurate “a global hackathon against corruption.”
Sri Lanka’s economic meltdown was one for the history books. At its cataclysmic height last summer, protesters stormed the presidential palace in Colombo, jumping in the pool, taking selfies in the kitchen and refusing to leave until top officials resigned.
But a few minutes down the road, in an elegant building housing the country’s top startups, Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs are brimming with optimism. The clash is over, and venture investors, including Tim Draper are discovering the island nation and its blossoming technology sector.
