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As a first-time participant in the EWC competition, Armenia was originally allocated the standard single slot for the best startup to participate in the EWC Global Finals. The second slot will enable two teams from Armenia to compete against participants from other countries. Compared with the neighboring countries who are participating in EWC, Azerbaijan and Georgia received only one Global Finalist slot, yet Armenia, being smaller in size and population, received two Global Finalist slots to represent the country in the EWC 2021 Global Finals. 

  At the end of the semifinal pitching session, the jury selected 12 teams that will compete in the National Finals for over $100,000 in prizes and the top two winners will represent Armenia in the EWC global competition.  If selected as a 100 Global Finalist, the teams will advance to the  EWC Global Finals that will take place in November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 12 startup teams that have advanced to the National Finals are MedPoint Technologies, SmartClick, Revalcon, Cyber Tech, rBlock, Zoomrang (Zoom Apps), Heltun, Tactun (RAFA Solutions), Robodel, Mr.Fast, Streameal, and Denovo Sciences. 

The aim of the workshop was to provide EWC Armenia semi-finalists with expert know-how that would help them gear up for the final round of EWC Armenia pitches planned for July 24. In the workshop, David Beckett provided a thorough analysis of different types of pitches, through an examination of real business case studies and examples of good and bad pitch decks. The workshop was an excellent opportunity for EWC semi-finalists to learn tips and tricks for creating an impressive pitch from a startup expert.

Mentorship at EPIC promotes collaboration between startup teams and industry professionals willing to share their expertise, knowledge, and experience. Most EPIC incubator teams have multiple mentors who meet mentee teams once every two weeks throughout the duration of the incubation — consistently counseling them and offering constructive guidance, support, and connections. Overall, approximately sixty local and international mentors cooperate with EPIC.  Among the mentors, there are university professors, ecosystem professionals from consulting firms, banking, law, marketing, and product management, and mentors from overseas. 

Seven teams presented their new ventures on Demo Day. The startup Grandma won the Michael Agbabian Innovator Prize, and Click’too’Work won the Michael Agbabian Seed Fund Award. Grandma is an AI-based platform that detects and eliminates harmful content on the Internet. Click’too’Work is an online recruitment platform that addresses the challenges of employee recruitment faced by the HoReCa sector (Hotels, Restaurants, Catering), Hospitality, and Accommodation industries. 

Over 100 Armenian startups had submitted applications to compete in the Armenian National Finals on July 24. Of those, ninety-two startup teams were admitted to enter the national competition initial judgment phase and the remaining applicants were eliminated due to incomplete applications. Fifty-one percent of the participating startup teams are in the Idea Stage, 40% are at the Early Stage, and 9% are in the Growth Stage. The main verticals that are represented for the competing teams are Big Data/AI, Mobile, SAAS/Enterprise Software, and Health and Wellness.

The Committee is happy to announce that it has exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 of cash and in-kind prizes. The National Finals, taking place in late July 2021, will provide the opportunity to Armenian entrepreneurs in all stages of the development of their startups to participate, pitch their venture, win prizes and hopefully take the next big step to the global finals where they can win over $1 million in prizes. 

Click’too’Work is an online recruitment platform that focuses on providing businesses with best-fit candidates for short-term or temporary work, whether part-time or full-time employment. Specializing in recruitment for the hospitality industry, it matches job seekers according to their skills and experience with the right jobs thereby tackling both supply and demand side employment problems prevalent in that industry in Armenia.

Grandma is a machine learning solution that detects and blocks hate/violent speech from the Internet, creating a safe digital environment for users and facilitating crime detection by the police. The startup team members are Anahit Melkonyan (BAB ‘23), Elina Israyelyan (BSDS ‘23), and Ellen Muradyan. They shared with us the story behind founding their startup Grandma, opportunities for success, future goals, and aspirations.