On 25 January, 2022, Armenia Startup Academy held a Digital Demo Day to present the 8 startup graduates of its Traction Program Batch 2. The participant companies pitched their innovative solutions in EdTech, FinTech, Media, InfoSec, Pharmaceuticals, Construction Tech, and HealthTech.
The Armenia Startup Academy Traction Program is an intensive mentorship-based program designed to assist companies having initial traction to accelerate growth by providing support in Sales Enablement, Growth Hacking and Fundraising. The program was implemented by Catalyst Foundation supported by the European Union’s EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia” (ITTD) project implemented by GIZ. Viva-MTS, Armenia’s leading mobile network operator, joined the initiative as a corporate partner and supporter.
During the 12-week period of the program, the startups closely worked with industry professionals who have helped them in the achievement of their pre-set goals and milestones. The 1-1 sessions with the mentors resulted in some notable achievements including getting accepted into international accelerators, releasing refined versions of products, securing funding, substantially increasing their user base, passing the €100K revenue mark, and being recognized as the number one Product of the Day and Week on Product Hunt. 5 companies also had the opportunity to be awarded the EU-ITTD Seed Stage Grant of up to €50K.
The Demo Day opening and program overview were given by Anna Tantushyan, Program Director at Armenia Startup Academy, who greeted the audience and introduced the agenda of the event.
Welcome addresses were given by Frank Hess, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Armenia, Wilhelm Hugo, Team Leader of EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development” Project, and Ralph Yirikian, General Manager of Viva-MTS.
Frank Hess emphasized the importance of startups in economic success in small economies, ‘’With your work, Armenia is going to be able to possibly turn into one of the world’s leading hubs for innovation.’’
‘’The Demo Day for the Second Batch of the Armenian Startup Academy Traction Program is gathering us here to see another success story of Armenian entrepreneurs,’’ said Wilhelm Hugo.
Ralph Yirikian mentioned, ‘’It has already been two years that VIVA-MTS joined this initiative as a corporate partner and supporter, and I wish this program helps to reveal more talents and lead their way to growth and innovation in our country and beyond.’’
The welcoming remarks were followed by Batch 1 alumni pitching their products and sharing their newest achievements. Afterwards, the virtual stage was given to the Batch 2 companies.
After the Digital Demo Day, the founders of the Second Batch also shared their thoughts on the program and how it has supported them in their journeys.
‘’The Traction Program helped us to establish ourselves as an international company while also providing our team with fundraising opportunities. We are now positioned to fully support our global customers across the US and Europe.’’ said Taylor Chartier, CEO and Founder of Modicus Prime.
‘’Our participation in the Traction Program was a great opportunity for Uteach. We worked with the best mentors, got useful knowledge, became #1 product of the day and week on Product Hunt and had many more other achievements. It was one of the best experiences in our journey so far.’’ said Shushanik Shahbazyan, Co-Founder at Uteach.
“The Traction Program mentors took a personalized and deep dive into our company when advising us on how best to grow. And for that, we are grateful.” said Misha Tenenbaum, CEO and Co-Founder at EditMentor.
‘’The Traction Program had a huge impact on our product strategy. Armenia Startup Academy mentors provided us with regular feedback, it helped us to improve our pitching skills as well as learn much more about growth hacking and market penetration strategies.’’ said Narek Aslikyan, Co-Founder and CEO at Bootcamp.
Meet the Armenia Startup Academy Fall 2021 Batch
Modicus Prime is a self-service AI company enabling process and quality control for biotech research and manufacturing.
Toxometris.ai is an AI-based non-clinical safety assessment solution for chemicals using hybrid test models with the unique combination of AI (in silico) and biological (in vitro, in vivo) approaches.
Bransfer has built a layer 2-focused platform, called Layerswap, which allows transferring crypto from CEXs to roll-ups instantly and low-fee, thus simplifying the onboarding to layer 2s.
Buildern is an all-in-one a growth and operational excellence solution for small construction companies.
Stingle Photos is a secure, end-to-end encrypted, open-source gallery and sync app, which protects user's data from providers, hackers and data leakage.
EditMentor is a web app transforming video education for students and life-learners by using real-life interactive “challenges” to teach critical video editing skills.
Bootcamp provides a SaaS platform for employers for virtual internships building with permanent access to the best candidates.
Uteach is an all-in-one platform for launching an online school in a matter of minutes.
Welcome to the Armenia Startup Academy family!
Armenia Startup Academy is an entrepreneurship and startup education program aiming to prepare companies to raise their pre-seed rounds and expand to global markets through its Pre-acceleration and Traction programs. The Academy Pre-acceleration program guides prototype-stage startups through idea validation, customer development, go-to-market strategy, and pitching. The Academy Traction program is a mentorship-based growth program designed for companies that have managed to gain initial traction, and need support on intensifying it.
The Academy was launched in October 2017 with the support of the “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (EU-SMEDA) Project within the EU4Business initiative. Since then, the Academy has mentored 281 entrepreneurs from 121 startups with the ongoing assistance of 100+ industry experts. The program alumni have already raised more than €10M+ in the form of VC/angel funding and grants, got accepted to global startup programs including Y Combinator, Berkeley SkyDeck, TechStars and got featured by top global media such as Forbes, Fox LA, The American Genius, Tech Republic.
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