12:06 | 18.03.19 | News | 4584

Piotr Switalski visits Armenian startups supported by EU funding

On March 15 EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalski visited innovative companies and startups which have received technical and financial support in the framework of the European Union’s “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (EU-SMEDA) project.

Piotr Switalski visited the offices of the startups, got acquainted with their solutions and results of EU funding.

“There is a huge potential in startup ecosystem in Armenia as a driver for economic development and knowledge-based growth. In particular, this is a very interesting field for younger generation. The EU supported cutting-edge startups we visited today are a vivid example of the fast-growing competitive tech ecosystem in Armenia,” Piotr Switalski noted.

EU Ambassador visited with following startups:

Pixomatic (EU funding: EUR 46,000) is state-of-the-art online photo editor with a unique image cutting feature. It’s possible to instantly remove a background from any photo, make it transparent, add different colors and filters, or change the background with another photo.

RendChain (EU funding: EUR 14,000) is a decentralized peer-to-peer network that aims to let people contribute their computational power (personal computers, laptops, tablets) to a system that would rent them to businesses that need it.

Breedge (EU funding: EUR 12,500) is an online platform that helps SMEs and startups find and invest in the right student talent for their new positions. The web platform uses Machine Learning technology to analyze the data from both the students and companies and recommends the best matches.

Embry (EU funding: EUR 50,000) is an elegant and highly innovative tech solution for weight loss. It is the only activity tracker on a market with a built in smart scale. Embry combines features of activity tracker and smart scale, as well as, features of virtual coach and network of nutritionists and trainers, all in one tiny wearable device. With all that, Embry becomes most affordable all in one tool for weight loss.

Chessify (EU funding: EUR 46,000) is a chess platform that revolutionizes chess community experience, by applying state-of-the-art Deep Learning solutions. The startup offers services for both professional and amateur players.

Grovf (EU funding: EUR 46,000) database server is the first of its kind dedicated, out of the box, FPGA-Accelerated NoSQL Database for storing IIoT sensors generated data. The prototype has already achieved 10x faster transactions and 31x power saving compared with state-of-the-art solutions.

PinoKIT (EU funding: EUR 14,000) is an affordable and user-friendly educational trainer kit, which helps STEM educational institutions increase students’ engagement and drive productivity through fascinating hands-on experiments.

EU Ambassador participated in the official opening of Startup Europe Week Yerevan 2019 at the end of the visit.

Since 2017 European Union’s “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (EU-SMEDA) project, which is funded by the European Union under the EU4Business initiative and implemented by GIZ, has been supporting Armenian startups with two types of grant – Innovation Matching Grants (IMG) and Science and Technology Entrepreneurship (STEP) grants, through the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF).

• 224 new jobs were created due to participation in the programme
• 45 ideas in the market for new products and services
• 22 companies were newly established due to participation in the programme
• Additionally, an amount of at least EUR 400,000 of investment was attracted
• 2,063 participated in trainings, workshops and boot camps
• 65 startups were supported
• 33 companies receive EU seed grants IMG and STEP