Dutch incubator invests in Armenia-based startup

Dutch Crosspring incubator made an investment in Triple-E, an Armenia-based startup that develops Augmented Reality solutions.

Triple-E is a platform that allows creating and spreading user’s own Augmented Reality solutions: videos, photos, 3D models.

Itel.am talked to Triple-E co-founder and CEO Aryan Behzadi and Dutch entrepreneur, Crosspring seed accelerator and incubator founder Maurice Beckand Verwee, who noted they cannot disclose the amount of the investment.

Aryan Behzadi told us that Crosspring’s investment was their first.

“About 1 year and half ago me and my mentor Mohammad Mahdi Kermani started working on Augmented and Virtual reality. On March of 2016 I’ve gathered a team from IBM ISTC students and finally started working on the project as a startup.Till now we have won several prizes such as IBM ISTC Startup Challenge, Smarter Armenia Hackathon. In December we were awarded the STEP prize from EIF,” he said.

According to Triple-E founder, the platform allows users to realize their ideas without the requirement of coding skills.

Apart from the co-founders, Triple-E team includes four staff members, but Aryan Behzadi states they are going to expand the team. He also informed that the first step for them is to expand their business into Armenia, so probably the next target would be Europe.

Maurice Beckand Verwee noted in his turn that they picked their companies of choice for investment based on criteria of Team, Scalability, Time to market and International potential.

“So on these elements Triple-e scored well. By the way, Crosspring supports the portfolio companies not only with cash. We always help them with strategic manners and open up our network. Next to that they can benefit from our network of portfolio companies, alumni and tech hubs across Europe,” the investor said.

Touching on possible future investment rounds, Maurice Beckand Verwee stated it would depend on what Triple-E needs for further growth.

“First focus is on getting the product out and generate turnover. This will generate a value increase in the company and if extra investment is needed it will be easier to raise it.”

Crosspring founder also stressed that the investment in Triple-E is only the beginning for the company’s activity in Armenia.

“We are interested in investing more into the Armenian market of tech startups. Crosspring has started collaboration with the EIF for their new acceleration program from February till May. This we give us the opportunity to get more insights in the current market of tech startups in Armenia,” Maurice Beckand Verwee said.

Narine Daneghyan