Terms and Conditions

Last Updated: 1 August 2026

1. Who we are

Welcome to Startup Sri Lanka.

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the website located at https://startuplk.com (the “Website”), together with all content, newsletters, social media channels and services offered under the “Startup Sri Lanka” brand (collectively, the “Services”).

In these Terms, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd, a company incorporated in Sri Lanka under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, bearing registration number PV 00359082, having its registered office at 30/1, Kandumulla, Ambagaspitiya, Gampaha, Sri Lanka, trading as “Startup Sri Lanka”.

“You” and “your” refer to any person who accesses or uses the Website, whether as a reader, subscriber, commenter, advertiser or otherwise.

By accessing or using the Website, you confirm that you accept these Terms and agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Website.

2. Changes to these Terms

We may amend these Terms from time to time. The version in force is the version published on this page, and the “Last Updated” date above indicates when it was most recently changed.

Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention. Your continued use of the Website after any change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the amended Terms. We recommend that you review this page periodically.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, to enter into a binding agreement with us or to purchase any advertising or paid service. If you are using the Website on behalf of a company or other organisation, you confirm that you have the authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

4. Cookies and personal data

The Website uses cookies and similar technologies. By using the Website, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

Our collection and use of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms and is published separately on the Website. Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd is the data controller in respect of personal data collected through the Website for the purposes of the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022.

5. Intellectual property and use of our content

5.1 Our rights

Unless otherwise stated, Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd and/or its licensors own all intellectual property rights in the Website and in all material published on it, including text, articles, photographs, graphics, video, audio, data compilations, page layout, design and the “Startup Sri Lanka” name and logo. All such rights are reserved.

5.2 What you may do

You may:

read, view and access the Website for your own personal, non-commercial use;
share links to our articles on social media and in messaging applications;
quote short extracts from our content, provided that you clearly attribute the extract to Startup Sri Lanka and include a visible, working link to the original article.

5.3 What you may not do

Except as expressly permitted above or with our prior written consent, you must not:

republish, reproduce, duplicate or copy material from the Website in whole or in substantial part;
sell, rent, sub-license or otherwise commercially exploit material from the Website;
systematically redistribute our content, including by automated republication, scraping, or feed aggregation that reproduces full articles;
use our content to train, fine-tune or develop any machine learning or artificial intelligence model without our prior written consent;
remove, obscure or alter any copyright notice, byline, watermark or attribution;
use the “Startup Sri Lanka” name, logo or branding in a way that suggests endorsement, affiliation or partnership where none exists.

5.4 Third-party material

Some material on the Website — including company logos, product images, headshots and material supplied by advertisers, event partners or news sources — belongs to third parties and is used with permission, under licence, or under applicable fair-dealing provisions of the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003. Such material remains the property of its respective owners and is not covered by any permission granted in clause 5.2.

If you believe that material on the Website infringes your intellectual property rights, please contact us at the address in clause 16 with details of the material and your rights in it, and we will investigate and respond promptly.

6. Advertising, sponsored content and commercial relationships

6.1 We carry advertising

The Website and our associated channels carry paid advertising, sponsored articles, branded content, event promotion and other commercial arrangements. This is how we fund our work.

6.2 Disclosure

We label paid and sponsored material clearly, using terms such as “Sponsored”, “Paid Partnership”, “Advertorial” or “In partnership with”. If you see content that you believe is inadequately labelled, please tell us.

6.3 Advertising is not endorsement

The presence of any advertisement, sponsored article or promotional listing on the Website does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, verification or guarantee by us of the advertiser, its products, its services, its claims, its financial standing or its legal compliance.

6.4 Your dealings with advertisers

Any dealings, correspondence, transaction or investment between you and an advertiser, sponsor, or any third party featured on the Website is solely between you and that party. We are not a party to those dealings and, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from them. You should conduct your own due diligence before entering into any transaction.

6.5 Advertiser obligations

If you purchase advertising or sponsored content from us, you warrant that the material you supply is accurate, is not misleading, does not infringe any third party’s rights, and complies with all applicable Sri Lankan law. You agree to indemnify us in accordance with clause 12. Separate insertion order terms or a written advertising agreement may apply to your booking, and where there is any conflict, those terms will prevail in respect of that booking.

We reserve the right to decline, remove or discontinue any advertisement at our discretion, including where it does not meet our editorial or legal standards.

7. Editorial content, accuracy and no professional advice

We take reasonable care to ensure that the information published on the Website is accurate at the time of publication. However:

the Website is provided for general information and news purposes only;
startup ecosystem information — including funding figures, valuations, headcounts, launches and company status — changes rapidly and may become out of date;
nothing on the Website constitutes investment, financial, legal, tax, accounting or professional advice, and it must not be relied upon as such;
no content on the Website is an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or invest in any security, business, token or financial product.

You should obtain independent professional advice before making any decision based on material published on the Website. Any reliance you place on our content is strictly at your own risk.

If you believe we have published something inaccurate, please contact us using the details in clause 16 and we will review it.

8. User comments and submissions

8.1 What this covers

Certain parts of the Website allow users to post comments, opinions, information, questions, listings, event details, startup profiles or other material (“User Content”). This clause also applies to material you submit to us by email, form or messaging where it is submitted for publication.

8.2 We do not pre-screen

We do not filter, edit, publish or review User Content prior to its appearance on the Website. User Content reflects the views and opinions of the person who posted it, and not those of Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd, its directors, employees, agents or affiliates. We are not responsible for User Content and disclaim all liability in respect of it to the fullest extent permitted by law.

8.3 Your warranties

By posting or submitting User Content, you warrant that:

you own the User Content or have all necessary rights and licences to post it;
the User Content does not infringe any copyright, trademark, database right, privacy right or other right of any third party;
the User Content is not defamatory, libellous, offensive, obscene, harassing, threatening or otherwise unlawful;
the User Content does not constitute hate speech or advocacy of hatred contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act No. 56 of 2007;
the User Content does not contain false statements of fact presented as true, does not promote any unlicensed financial, investment or deposit-taking scheme, and does not promote tobacco products, alcohol, gambling, or unapproved medicines or health claims;
the User Content will not be used to solicit business, distribute spam, or promote unlawful activity;
the User Content does not contain malware, tracking code or automated scripts.

8.4 Licence you grant us

By posting User Content, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable licence to use, reproduce, edit, adapt, publish, translate and distribute that User Content in any media, and to sub-license those rights, in connection with the operation and promotion of the Services. You retain ownership of your User Content.

8.5 Our rights over User Content

We reserve the right, but assume no obligation, to monitor User Content and to remove, edit or refuse any User Content that we consider, in our sole discretion, to breach these Terms, to be unlawful, or to be otherwise objectionable. We may also suspend or terminate your ability to post.

9. Acceptable use

You must not:

use the Website in any way that breaches any applicable Sri Lankan or international law or regulation;
use the Website in any way that is unlawful, fraudulent, or has an unlawful or fraudulent purpose;
attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which it is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to it;
introduce any virus, trojan, worm, logic bomb or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful;
attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack;
use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Website for any purpose without our express written permission, other than standard, well-behaved search engine indexing;
impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or organisation;
collect or harvest personal data of other users, including for marketing purposes;
interfere with the proper working of the Website or circumvent any security or access-control measure.

Breach of this clause may constitute a criminal offence under the Computer Crimes Act No. 24 of 2007. We may report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and will co-operate with them.

10. Links to and from the Website

10.1 Links from our Website

The Website contains links to third-party websites, including advertiser websites, startup websites and news sources. Those links are provided for your convenience and information only. We have no control over the content of those websites and accept no responsibility or liability for them, for their content, or for any loss or damage arising from your use of them.

10.2 Linking to our Website

You may link to our home page or to individual articles, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal, does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, and does not suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not frame the Website on any other site, or present our content in a way that removes or obscures our branding, bylines or advertising. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

11. Disclaimer and limitation of liability

11.1 Availability

The Website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, error-free, or free from viruses. We may suspend, withdraw or restrict all or any part of the Website for business or operational reasons, and will try to give reasonable notice where we can.

11.2 Exclusion of warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity, including any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, reliability or fitness for purpose of any content on the Website.

11.3 Limitation

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we, our directors, employees and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill, opportunity, data, or anticipated savings, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the Website.

Where our liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you in respect of all claims arising out of or in connection with the Website or these Terms shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount paid by you to us in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) LKR 25,000.

11.4 What we do not exclude

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the laws of Sri Lanka, including any rights you may have under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003.

12. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd, its directors, officers, employees and agents against all claims, demands, proceedings, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

your breach of these Terms;
your use of the Website in breach of clause 9;
any User Content you post or submit;
any advertising or sponsored material you supply to us, including any claim that it is misleading, infringing or unlawful.

13. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Website, or to any part of it, at any time and without notice, if we reasonably believe that you have breached these Terms. Clauses 5, 8.4, 11, 12, 14 and 15 survive termination.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms, their subject matter and their formation are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. You irrevocably agree that the courts of Sri Lanka shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them.

15. General

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

No waiver. Our failure or delay in enforcing any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision or of any other provision.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of the Website, and supersede all previous versions.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms. We may assign or transfer ours, including to any successor in title to our business.

Third parties. These Terms do not give rise to any rights enforceable by any person who is not a party to them.

16. Contact us

Questions, complaints, corrections and notices in relation to these Terms should be sent to:

Startup Media (Pvt) Ltd Trading as Startup Sri Lanka Registration No. PV 00359082 30/1, Kandumulla, Ambagaspitiya, Gampaha, Sri Lanka

Email: info@startuplk.com Telephone: +94 75 884 0890