Armenia’s tech sector is thriving, thanks in large part to a start-up pre-acceleration programme financed by the European Union’s Fund for Southeast Development (EFSE), whose entrepreneurship academy has expanded its area of impact by contributing to tech entrepreneurship in the Caucasus country. The EFSE Entrepreneurship Academy is an initiative of the EFSE Development Facility, which encompasses a range of programs to support local businesses throughout the EFSE target region, which includes 16 countries across emerging Europe.
There have now been five cycles of the three-month Armenia Start-up Academy programme, first launched in 2017, which have helped more than 90 start-ups and 220 entrepreneurs. The latest closed on May 12 with a presentation of the latest batch of start-ups, carried out online as a result of Covid-19 restrictions. The fifth cohort of 13 early-stage start-ups reflected a diverse range of sectors that bring new waves of innovation in healthtech, media and communications, childcare, smart homes and sharing economies. Nearly 40 per cent of them are led by female founders.
“We are inspired to see a new wave of entrepreneurs joining the start-up community of Armenia,” says Ashot Arzumanyan, partner at SmartGateVC, an initiative of Catalyst Foundation, one of the pioneers in the mission to support the rapidly-growing start-up ecosystem of Armenia.
“This is possible thanks to the continuous support of the European Union and the proactive involvement of the community of local and international mentors,” he adds.
The Armenia Start-up Academy is designed to prepare start-ups to raise pre-seed capital as well as to enter leading regional and global accelerators. Throughout the 12-weeks of the pre-accelerator programme, participants pass through a tailor-made development programme based on individual diagnoses of each start-up’s needs.
The programme involves knowledge-sharing weekly sessions, individual work with high-profile mentors, customer development, milestone tracking and pitching practice. The programme aims to help participants refine and validate their strategies, and get support for expansion to international markets. Participation to the programme is free for all qualifying companies due to the support offered by EU partners. Programme alumni have already raised more than three million euros in venture capital funding, and have won pitching competitions at the 2019 World Congress of Information Technologies, the Index Ventures Tech Summit and other competitions, as well as scholarships to study at Draper University.
The latest batch of start-ups to take part include Noomee, a mobile companion app that helps the families and therapists of children with autism spectrum disorder continue daily therapy at home, DermAI, an AI-based mobile application that identifies allergy types and dermatological issues using a database of medically approved images, and Monitor Sync, which provides low-cost solutions for outdoor digital advertisements.
“I think it is very important to see so many talented, creative, smart young people who try to live their dreams,” says Andrea Wiktorin, EU ambassador to Armenia. “I am convinced that the investors will see how creative people are here in Armenia and that they will find an opportunity to get into business.”
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