ARMENIA -THE STARTUP HUB SECRET TIP

Armenia. The small Eastern European country is rather known for its idyllic mountains, churches and monasteries. Well, the favorite drink of Winston Churchill was the Ararat Brandy. The name of the brandy is derived from the biblical mountain Ararat, where Noah's Ark is said to have landed. Whether one believes this myth or not - Ararat is one of the defining symbols of this small country in the South Caucasus. But let us jump from biblical myths into the here and now. In recent years, Armenia, with its approximately 3 million inhabitants, has seen a development in the IT sector that may have surprised some observers from abroad. The IT sector has been able to shine with double-digit growth rates and has thus become one of the most important economic sectors in the country. 

Armenia's tech community is globally connected

But what is the secret of this recent boom? On the one hand, Armenia's heritage from the Soviet Union, when the then Soviet Republic was one of the scientific and technical centers next to Belarus. As a result, Armenia produced many systems for military and technical requirements. A second aspect is the connection of Armenia with its worldwide diaspora. More than 7 million Armenians do not live in Armenia themselves, but are scattered all over the world. Most of them live in Russia, the USA and France. These connections ensure a constant exchange of ideas and knowledge between high-tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, Paris, Moscow and the home country of Armenia.

Linkline Startup Ecosystem Silicon Valley - Armenia 

Thus, there are some very successful examples of American-Armenian companies that have achieved international fame. One of these companies is ServiceTitan from Glendale, California, which was founded by Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian. Now employing over a thousand people, ServiceTitan offers small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and plumbing technicians a full range of services to help them organize all their business activities. In March of this year ServiceTitan held an event in Berlin under the title "Expand the Extraordinary" to convince developers and business people of the potential in Armenia and to lure one or two expats back to Armenia and thus to develop an own research center in the South Caucasus. 

Another Armenian start-up that has made the leap to the top is PicsArt. The company, which is based in San Francisco and has more than 350 employees in Armenia, claims to be the top-ranked image editing app with more than one billion downloads. One person who embodies the Armenian-American connection in the technology sector like no other is Alexis Ohanian. The US entrepreneur with German and Armenian roots enjoys cult status in the USA and Armenia with his VC company Initialized Capital and the social network Reddit (more than 300 million active users per month). Although he recently retired from both companies, his activities will continue to leave their mark on American-Armenian tech relations in the future. Alexis Ohanian's keynote address "Innovation and Decentralization" at the WCIT Tech Summit in Yerevan was coded with the message that Armenia is one of the world's leading start-up hubs. 

Newcomer of the Tech Scene Armenia

The formative influence from Silicon Valley inspires the Armenian tech community. In the last few years, a large number of Armenian-American start-ups have emerged, which should soon increase their popularity in Europe. 

The Chessify company is another example of the capabilities of Armenian developers in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Armenian national sport of chess is offered with the team in the USA and Armenia for digital training methods for chess professionals worldwide.

But there are also Armenian IT companies, which are already well represented on the German market. The Media Design Startup Renderforest offers a variety of services in the field of automated creation of videos, presentations, logos, animations and even music visualizations.

Tech Relations Armenia - Germany 

The relations of the old Soviet Republic of Armenia are still known in GDR (East Germany) times. Radio Yerevan sends its greetings. The German Chancellor knows Armenia from her own travels and has already learned about Armenia, the patent forge of the USSR. The last coup was initiated by Chancellor Merkel, the Armenian Tech School TUMO is coming to Berlin. From October 2020, the KFW Bank will finance a self-study center for digital and technological courses for young children.

In addition, TeamViewer uses the Tech Location Armenia for its development and research projects in the field of remote maintenance - as well as web conferencing software tools. Not to forget that Oliver Steil (CEO of TeamViewer) led the largest Tech IPO in Germany in 2019.

Startup culture is the laboratory of the future

In small countries like Armenia, innovations can emerge without compulsion. While in the Corona flu epidemic in Germany home office or remote work is developing as a new trend, remote work was already established as standard in Armenia since the early 1990s. 

Armenia's smart startup entrepreneurs have turned the country into a start-up lab. Our editors will keep an eye on the country and see if the startup boom like in the Baltic States, Israel or Silicon Valley will continue.

Authors: Ricardo Bergmann and David Duru lead the first German-Armenian business think tank P-A-G-O and network German industry with Armenian startups.

For all tech fans, we can recommend German content on StartupValley (see link in the comments).