Armenia Startup Academy holds remote Demo Day for 5th batch

On May 12, 8:00 PM EVN time, Armenia Startup Academy will hold the Demo Day of the fifth batch of startups. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the demo day will be in remote format via Facebook and YouTube.

The Armenia Startup Academy is a pre-acceleration program designed to prepare startups to raise pre-seed capital as well as to enter leading regional and global accelerators. The program is tailored to each startup’s needs and involves knowledge-sharing sessions, individual work with mentors, customer development tracking, and pitching practice. The fifth batch of the program was implemented with the instrumental support of the EFSE Entrepreneurship Academy under the EU4Business initiative.

Founders of 13 startups will present their ideas during the remote Demo Day. This cohort consists of companies representing a diverse set of industries including healthtech, media, AI/ML, business and customer solutions. Nearly 40% of the companies of this cycle are led by female founders. 8 of the startups will be presenting their idea to the public for the first time.

The entrepreneurs will pitch their companies in front of the digital audience. Attendees can ask their questions in the Facebook and Youtube event live chats or tweet them by using hashtags to mention the team their question is directed to (e.g.: #ASAiBala). They are also welcome to contact the founders directly - team member contacts can be found on the webpage alongside startup descriptions.

Some of the alumni of the previous batches will share their progress and achievements after graduation. The program alumni have already raised more than €3M in VC funding, won pitching competitions during WCIT 2019 and Index Ventures Tech Summit, etc. and were awarded scholarships for studying at Draper University.

Ashor Arzumanyan, partner at SmartGateVC and co-founder of Armenia Startup Academy says:

“We are inspired to see a new wave of entrepreneurs joining the startup community of Armenia. This is possible thanks to the continuous support of the European Union and the proactive involvement of the community of local and international mentors.”

Markus Aschendorf, Chairperson of the EFSE Development Facility which runs the EFSE
Entrepreneurship Academy said: “Good luck to the participants at the Demo Day! They have
worked hard to get here. Especially in difficult times like these, EFSE believes in nourishing the
roots of entrepreneurship through programs that connect good ideas to the resources they
need.”

During the pre-accelerator, participating teams go through a 12-week intensive program that provides mentorship by high-profile professionals and industry specialists along with customer development and milestone tracking with the guidance of the Academy team, highlighted by regular pitching practice sessions. The teams also participate in weekly sessions, talks, and workshops with experienced entrepreneurs.

The companies of this fifth batch are seeing noticeable progress: some have acquired their first users or onboarded more customers, while others have tested the validity of their ideas and chosen verticals to focus on. The teams have also gained knowledge and skills in market analysis, fundraising, sales, marketing, business model generation, pitching and more.

"One of the decisive aspects of our business has been the relationships with colleagues, partners, customers, and teammates, and the best way of creating new relationships is to join the already existing networks. Armenia Startup Academy is providing access to such a network," said Mushegh Gevorgyan, the founder of Batch 5 startup Dowork.ai.

Register on Eventbrite to receive updates and follow up information on the event. See a 6-minute video report about the 5th batch here.