WSO2 founder Sanjiva Weerawarana to step down as CEO

Sanjiva Weerawarana Founder and CEO of WSO2

Thursday May 14, 2026 6:37 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sanjiva Weerawarana has said he will step down from his role as chief executive officer of Sri Lanka-based global tech company WSO2, effective from May 31.

Devaka Randeniya, the company’s Chief Revenue Officer, has been appointed as acting CEO while the board looks for a successor.

Weerawarana founded WSO2 in August 2005 alongside Paul Fremantle and Davanum Srinivas, with backing from Intel Capital, Toba Capital, and Pacific Controls.

What followed was two decades of building a global tech powerhouse rooted in Sri Lanka, though it has had its fair share of near-death experiences.

“We officially ran out of money three times,” Weerawarana told Economynext, when asked about the hardest period of the journey.

The most testing moment came in 2015, when the company’s shareholders at the time issued an ultimatum to turn profitable.

WSO2 managed to become cash-positive in the next two years, leading to the growth that followed.

That growth attracted private equity giant EQT, which acquired WSO2 for $600 million in 2024.

The company’s next target is bolder still. “We want to scale the company to 500 million to one billion dollars in revenue,” Weerawarana said, framing this exit as a handoff to leadership better positioned to drive that commercial push, rather than a conclusion.

Weerawarana previously stepped down from his role as CEO in 2017, handing operations over to Tyler Jeswell, before eventually returning to the role through its acquisition and expansion.

“Last time I stepped down was because I wanted to get somebody to drive the business in a more product marketing, sales-oriented way; but now it’s different because we are a much larger company.”

“This time the person they bring in will be a very experienced CEO.”

More than 200 people who passed through WSO2 have gone on to complete PhD programmes, and between 10 and 15 alumni now hold positions at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Despite relinquishing the CEO role, Weerawarana is clear that he is not stepping away from public life.

“I have three foundations, Lanka Software Foundation, Lanka Data Foundation, and Avinya Foundation,” he said. “My plan is to put more effort into those.”

WSO2’s primary services include API management for streamlining digital services, Identity and Access Management (IAM) for security, and cloud-native integration tools that connect disparate business systems.

Recently, the company has pivoted toward the future of AI with Choreo, a developer platform designed to build, deploy, and manage autonomous AI agents alongside traditional applications. (Colombo/May14/2026)