From a University Idea to an International Software Team: Inside UFOSE Software

Two years ago, UFOSE Software was five students with an idea. Today it is a team of more than twelve delivering software to clients in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Dubai — one of the faster early trajectories in the startup Sri Lanka technology scene.

The company was founded on 4 April 2024 by Sachintha Tharuka, who serves as CEO and Lead UI/UX Engineer. The concept took shape during his time at The Open University of Sri Lanka, and the name spells out the ambition: Universal Future Optimized Solutions and Engineering, operating under the tagline “Aiding progress through code.”

What the team builds

UFOSE works across custom software development, mobile applications, Learning Management Systems and POS systems — a portfolio that reflects where demand actually sits among small and mid-sized businesses in the region.

The client list is unusually varied: tourism operators, tuition centres and schools, hotels, salons and bakeries. That breadth is telling. These are businesses that rarely get bespoke software because enterprise vendors don’t find them worth pursuing, and it is exactly the gap a young, lean team can fill credibly.

Teaching before selling

Alongside commercial work, UFOSE runs TechSpark, a CSR initiative delivering IT and leadership programmes in schools.

For a company founded by university students, the choice is a coherent one. The founders were, very recently, the students being reached — and in a market where technical talent is the binding constraint on growth, building interest early is as much strategy as generosity.

The next target: Digitizing Lanka

The company’s stated next milestone is “Digitizing Lanka,” an island-wide programme aimed at lifting the country’s broader digital capability.

It is a large ambition for a two-year-old firm of twelve people, and the details will matter more than the framing. But the underlying observation is sound: a great many Sri Lankan businesses still run on paper, spreadsheets and WhatsApp, and the opportunity in closing that gap is real.

Early days

UFOSE’s story so far is a familiar shape in the local ecosystem — a university project that found paying customers, then found them abroad. What distinguishes it is speed, and how quickly the client base moved beyond one industry.

Whether that holds as the team grows is the question every company at this stage faces.