Armenia Startup Academy Traction Programme First Batch is launched

The European Union and Viva-MTS support New Startup Growth Programme by Armenia Startup Academy

We are thrilled to announce the start of the First Batch of newly launched Armenia Startup Academy Traction Programme – a 10-week mentorship-based programme designed to help companies at post-prototype stage with early traction to accelerate their growth and raise their first or follow-on rounds. The programme is implemented by Catalyst Foundation supported by the European Union’s EU4Business “Technology Development for Armenia” project implemented by GIZ. Viva-MTS, Armenia’s leading telecommunications operator joins the initiative as a corporate partner and supporter.

Throughout the 5 cycles of the Armenia Startup Academy pre-acceleration programme 65 startups have graduated. In total, less than €250K was spent during the 2,5 years on running the programme, while companies that graduated ASA disclosed raising more than ‎€3 million of funding. While things evolve, Armenian startups start facing new challenges, which are more sophisticated by their nature. As a response to an existing need in the ecosystem for a next-level programme, Academy team has designed the Traction Programme.

Over the 10 weeks of the Traction programme, participating startups will work closely with leading professionals in Sales and Growth Hacking, establish their growth frameworks, refine and validate their strategies and get support for Fundraising and expanding to international markets. Under the light of the Covid-19 pandemic the programme will be held remotely. More information about the programme can be found here.

The first cohort of 9 companies reflects a diverse range of startups that bring new waves of innovation in industries such as edutech, transportation, media, HR, marketing and more.

The selected cohort of the first Traction Programme includes:

1. CauldronApp helps companies save applicant screening and interviewing time by recruiting through challenges.
2. ConstApps is an E-commerce mobile application builder providing marketing solutions to allow for customer retention.
3. Dowork is a collaborative platform for project time and cost estimation.
4. dzook is a technology converting simple photos into illustrated portraits, which can be used in different areas such as video editing, plugins for drawing and design tools, 3D animation, etc.
5. Hub Technologies democratizes the shipping industry and connects shippers directly with carriers without charging brokerage fees.
6. LiveBoard is an interactive whiteboard application for online tutoring and distance learning.
7. Rentopian is an all-in-one software for event rental business operations.
8. SmartSender is an AI-powered retention marketing automation platform allowing for omni-channel customer retention.
9. TabuLearn is an end-to-end provider of data science and AI services allowing anyone who has access to data to build AI models and extract actionable insight for their business.

The Member States of the European Union have decided to link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.

EU4Business “Technology Development for Armenia’’ is part of the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia” project, which is co-funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by German Development Cooperation GIZ through the Private Sector Development and TVET South Caucasus Programme.   It aims at creation and further development of investable and innovative ventures in Armenia leading to stronger and competitive tech and innovation ecosystems with potential export orientation, increased number of Science2Business2Education cooperation platforms and higher participation in HORIZON 2020 and HORIZON Europe innovation programmes.

Viva-MTS (MTS Armenia CJSC) is Armenia’s leading telecommunications operator, having the widest network reach and spreading a wide range of Voice and Data services all across Armenia. Having the best of the Armenian people interest at heart since its launch on 1st July 2005 and in a short period of time Viva-MTS has managed to build a nationwide network and a considerable customer base. Viva-MTS drives innovation and aims at always being at the forefront of any development serving the Armenian mobile communications market.  The company follows the guidance provided by ISO 26000 (International Standard of Social Responsibility) and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (Information Security Management System). For more information visit www.mts.am.

Catalyst Hi-Tech and Entrepreneurship Development Foundation aims to contribute to the development of the tech entrepreneurship ecosystem in Armenia. The Foundation has a number of initiatives aiming to fuel the Armenian startup ecosystem with competitive skills and develop a pipeline of capable companies, including Hero House, Armenia Startup Academy, AI Incubator, Entrepreneurial Assistant School, Startup Boost Weekends, etc.