2016: Million-dollar investments in Armenian IT companies

In 2016 a number of Armenian IT companies successfully attracted large investments from foreign venture foundations and individuals.

Itel.am presents 4 Armenian companies that received more than USD 1 million investments this year. We selected the companies that have an office or team in Armenia even if they operate abroad.

1. PicsArt – USD 20 million

In April PicsArt announced a USD 20 million funding from DCM Ventures and Siguler Guff & Company. PicsArt allocated the sum to developing its activity in China and Japan.

In September the company stated over 80 million monthly active users and presented an updated iOS version of the app of that occasion.

2. CodeFights - USD 10 million

In November the company founder and CEO Tigran Sloyan announced a USD 10 million investment, noting that Series A round was led by e.ventures. Other participants of the round were SV Angel, Felicis Ventures, A Capital and Granatus Ventures.

CodeFights, which helps test and improve coding skills through a game, will allocate the investment to scale its engineering, operational and sales teams.

It is noteworthy that the company’s user base grew 10 times since the USD 2.5 million seed funding round in April 2015.

3. NewsDeeply - USD 2.5 million

This year the startup founded by Lara Sedrakian completed the USD 2.5 million seed funding round, launched in 2015. Fresco Capital, Granatus Ventures, HIVE and Omidyar Network were among the investors.

News Deeply is a platform that collects data on specific topics, which is later used by large media companies and media outlets. You can read Itel.am’s interview with Lara Sedrakian here.

4. SoloLearn - USD 1.2 million

The largest mobile app teaching coding – SoloLearn – announced raising USD 1.2 million seed round in October.

The investment was made by Silicon Valley based VC Learn Capital, as well as private investors who invested in SoloLearn before.

As for now, the platform has around 10 million users. Refugees who want to learn coding began using the app in high numbers.

Narine Daneghyan