ECONOMYNEXT – Sanjiva Weerawarana has stated he’ll step down from his function as chief government officer of Sri Lanka-based international tech firm WSO2, efficient from Could 31.
Devaka Randeniya, the corporate’s Chief Income Officer, has been appointed as appearing CEO whereas the board appears to be like for a successor.
Weerawarana based WSO2 in August 2005 alongside Paul Fremantle and Davanum Srinivas, with backing from Intel Capital, Toba Capital, and Pacific Controls.
What adopted was twenty years of constructing a worldwide tech powerhouse rooted in Sri Lanka, although it has had its justifiable share of near-death experiences.
“We formally ran out of cash 3 times,” Weerawarana informed Economynext, when requested in regards to the hardest interval of the journey.
Probably the most testing second got here in 2015, when the corporate’s shareholders on the time issued an ultimatum to show worthwhile.
WSO2 managed to change into cash-positive within the subsequent two years, resulting in the expansion that adopted.
That progress attracted personal fairness large EQT, which acquired WSO2 for $600 million in 2024.
The corporate’s subsequent goal is bolder nonetheless. “We wish to scale the corporate to 500 million to at least one billion {dollars} in income,” Weerawarana stated, framing this exit as a handoff to management higher positioned to drive that business push, relatively than a conclusion.
Weerawarana beforehand stepped down from his function as CEO in 2017, handing operations over to Tyler Jeswell, earlier than ultimately returning to the function via its acquisition and enlargement.
“Final time I stepped down was as a result of I wished to get any individual to drive the enterprise in a extra product advertising and marketing, sales-oriented approach; however now it’s completely different as a result of we’re a a lot bigger firm.”
“This time the individual they convey in shall be a really skilled CEO.”
Greater than 200 individuals who handed via WSO2 have gone on to finish PhD programmes, and between 10 and 15 alumni now maintain positions at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Regardless of relinquishing the CEO function, Weerawarana is evident that he’s not stepping away from public life.
“I’ve three foundations, Lanka Software program Basis, Lanka Information Basis, and Avinya Basis,” he stated. “My plan is to place extra effort into these.”
WSO2’s major providers embody API administration for streamlining digital providers, Identification and Entry Administration (IAM) for safety, and cloud-native integration instruments that join disparate enterprise programs.
Just lately, the corporate has pivoted towards the way forward for AI with Choreo, a developer platform designed to construct, deploy, and handle autonomous AI brokers alongside conventional purposes. (Colombo/May14/2026)
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