Introduction

With the first Armenia-born unicorn Picsart, a unicorn founded by Armenian founders ServiceTitan in the United States and many other startups either born in Armenia or founded by Armenians help to shape Armenia’s unique place on the world’s innovation map.

Armenia inherited a strong high-tech ecosystem from the Soviet era, encompassing a technical educational system, software development talent, and international connections. These factors enabled the development of Armenia’s Information and Communication Technologies sector. Since the early 2000s the sector has been steadily growing and currently there are over 1000 software development companies providing software development services globally. Leading transnational companies such as Synopsys, VMWare, Siemens, Adobe, NVIDIA, AMD have large R&D centers established in Armenia.

Third, that brings Armenia one of its greatest strengths is a Diaspora. Armenians have strong positions in the global startup hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, London, Paris. Armenians keep strong ties with their homeland and they are willing to support Armenia. While Armenia establishes its strong position on the global innovation map and ties with the Armenian Diaspora are strengthening, this enables a strategic opportunity to transform Armenia into a regional startup hub seamlessly bridged with the global value chains through its Diaspora.

All this means the Armenian startup ecosystem development is just starting and with its decentralized diaspora, Armenia has a unique opportunity to become a door opener and accelerator for regional startups.

Science & Technology Angels Network (STAN) spin off

STAN was established in February 2018 at the initiative of the Foundation for Armenian Science & Technology with a vision to bring together prominent Diaspora Armenians to join their financial capital, network and entrepreneurial talent and help engraving best tech entrepreneurship knowledge in Armenia.

Within 5 years, STAN grew from a group of 18 founding angels into a group of around 40 angels from 6 countries who made over 700 000 USD in investments in 15 startups.

Being operated by FAST as an informal group of angel investors for 5 years, STAN has accumulated strong expertise in startup sourcing, working on deal structuring, maintaining the relations with angels, startup ecosystem and a broader community of supporters in Diaspora and Worldwide.

STAN, having matured over the past five years, has reached a point where it can operate independently and sustainably. STAN officially spun out of FAST to continue its mission as a not-for-profit Foundation.

“STAN’s remarkable growth reflects the shared commitment to nurturing the Armenian startup ecosystem. This is a remarkable milestone, and we owe this success to the unwavering support of our angels, partners, and the inspiring startups that have been an integral part of our journey”,  says Armen Orujyan, a Founding CEO of FAST and a Founding Angel of STAN.

Armen Orujyan, a Founding CEO of FAST and a Founding Angel of STAN.

Watch a recap of STAN’s past 5 years!

Empowering Armenian Startup Ecosystem

STAN marked its 5th anniversary by announcing its official spin-off from FAST and organizing a startup ecosystem meetup in Yerevan, Armenia. The Empowering Armenian Startup Ecosystem Meetup by STAN brought together 50+ angel investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to address the challenges faced by the ecosystem and explore ways to better the situation.

Through a collaborative effort, the meet-up participants shaped the following actions to foster startup development in Armenia:

• Private-public partnership for strategy development.
• Enhanced positioning of Armenian on the global market.
• Structured information portal on the startup ecosystem and opportunities.
• Bridge programs implemented by ecosystem players.
• Bring more international experience: accelerators, R&D labs, etc.
• Invest in human capital with a focus on innovation and product discovery.
• Support local entrepreneurs to achieve success locally and then scale internationally.

Notably, the minister of High-Tech Industry and representatives of the Armenian government participated in the meetup emphasizing the importance of the community and contributing their vision in shaping the community’s joint effort in shaping Armenia’s unique place in the global innovation map.

See the photos of the event here.

Vision of further development

Success of Diaspora Armenians such as one of the STAN’s founding angels Noubar Afeyan (Founder & CEO of Flagship Pioneering, Co-Founder and Chairman at Moderna Therapeutics), Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit), Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian (founders of ServiceTitan), Hovhannes Avoyan (co-founder and CEO of Picsart), Nina Achadjian (partner at Index Ventures), and many others demonstrate that if put in an effective economic ecosystem Armenian talent thrives and achieves unlimited success potential.

That said, STAN shares the vision that the Armenian startup ecosystem should be focused on consolidating community and through collaborative effort between the ecosystem and the Government transform Armenia into a well established economy, embracing talent and creating opportunities for global success through strong ties of the Armenian diaspora.

“STAN, as a network of angel investors, will focus on expanding our investor base, increasing the scale and volume of our investments, and nurturing startups through the seed stage. We will establish our dedicated team, specializing in investment analysis, startup coordination, project discovery, and investor engagement,” outlines Ruben Osipyan, as he presents STAN’s future plans.

Ruben Osipyan, STAN CEO

STAN Angels and the STAN team are motivated to continue their journey in growing the network’s impact on the innovation landscape in Armenia and strengthening Armenia’s positioning on the global startup stage.

Invest in Armenia, Transform the Future! Join STAN as an angel investor or supporter and contribute your unique knowledge in shaping Armenia’s ambition of becoming a regional startup hub accelerating access of the startups to the global markets through Armenian Diaspora connections.