🇦🇲🦊 Over half a BILLION $ Raised by Armenian Startups during Summer 2021
Curated resources for Armenian founders and tech enthusiasts.
2 Armenian Startups raised a combined $215M in August with one of them becoming a Unicorn ($1B+ valuation). Here we break down those startups as well as tools to help the next generation of Armenian Founders and more!
Join early-stage founders, funders, and operators as well as enthusiasts of the Armenian tech community by subscribing today to get coverage on recent news👇
$215M raised in August
And that’s ok. Collectively Armenian startups have raised over $500M in a matter of three months. Projects that took months to build have turned out to become multi-million or billion-dollar corporations. Armenian founders are proving once again that successful businesses can be built outside of Silicon Valley and more specifically in Armenia! What a time to be building & investing in the region 🚀
🎨 Picsart raised a $130M Series C to help automate the computer vision pipeline led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 with Sequoia, G Squared, Tribe Capital, and others joining in. First unicorn startup started in Armenia 🦄. PicsArt is an all-in-one photo & video editing app, powered by a creative community of monthly active users and influencers.
📈 DISQO raised an $85M Series B to expand their consumer insights platform that drives smarter decisions from Sageview Capital, with participation from March Capital, Valuestream Ventures! DISQO is a consumer insights platform that offers products that connect insights about what people think and do across brand experiences and consumer journeys.
🤖 Reddit is now valued at $10 billion (Decacorn Valuation) with 52 million Daily Active Users by raising $410M in their Series F.
That said, talent shortages are becoming a real thing in the region. The war for talent has never been more fierce and it’s shocking that most private companies/unicorns don’t have an acquisition strategy to go pick up talented teams that didn’t get to PMF. Feels like a big miss. Something to look out for in the coming months as more capital flowing to startups at higher valuations directly means higher pay, more equity, and more possibilities of acquisitions happening with the overall beneficiaries being tech workers.
Here are 4 examples of initiatives Armenia is undertaking to focus on youth tech education which can be exemplary for other economies around the World:
Find out more about these platforms directly from their websites. If you know of any Armenian initiative to help the youth get acquainted with tech other than the ones featured above, please message me!
Armenian Tech News 📣
🎓 Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) is building a Smart Center school where village children in Armenia 6-15 learn free of charge coding, engineering, creative technologies.
🛠 Picsart was recognized by Inc as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US while ServiceTitan was named in the Cloud100 list this year coming in 8th position!
⚡️ Masdar Group, one of the world leaders in the field of renewable energy, has signed an agreement to invest $170,000,000 to build 400 MW capacity solar power plants in Armenia.
⌗ DataFest Yerevan will take place on September 10-11, 2021. It will bring together a community of 200+ specialists and 25 speakers from leading public and private enterprises in machine learning, with a strong focus on engineering and applications. Sign up here!
🤩 HyeTech Showcase is the opening of a series of events that will take place this fall during the Digital Week in Armenia. (27-28 October 2021) Buy your tickets today.
🎯 To make it easier for people who want to learn to code but don’t know where to start, Microsoft Innovation Center launched a "Programming Basics" course starting on September 2nd, 2021. Register here.
🏆 Startup Academy is accepting applications for the 2nd batch of the Traction program.
💸 Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator accepts startup applications for Fall2021 Batch! The deadline to apply is September 5, 2021, 11:59 PM California time. Click to apply!
What we’re following 🚀
Back in 2011, TUMO Yerevan had 1,500 students register on the first day. In the past 10 years, they’ve had 60,000 students enter their doors all over Armenia!
Founders, apply for the Winter 22 cohort for Y Combinator by 8 pm PT on September 8!
What Startups Need (And Don’t Need) In Their Series A Data Room by Eniac Ventures
Product Led Growth breakdown by Caroline Clark and Rich Manalang.
Baraka launches an investment app to connect retail investors in the Middle East with US markets. Check them out!
Jobs 💼
Our Startup Spotlight, Softr is hiring for multiple roles in Yerevan, Berlin, and Remote to help them build the best no-code platform. Check them out.
Podcastle Inc. is looking for Senior React.js Developers based in Armenia. Work with cutting-edge web technologies.
After successfully raising their Series B financing, DISQO has over 80 roles open! Join them.
International Armenian Job Board.
Post your Jobs here
Startup spotlight 👨💻👩💻
Softr.io
Softr, founded in 2019 by Artur Mkrtchyan and Mariam Hakobyan, helps turn your Airtable data into a beautiful and powerful website, web app, or client portal. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Softr is the easiest no-code platform to create powerful websites & web apps from Airtable, in 10 minutes. No coding. No learning curve. With Softr, you can build dynamic web apps like Member-only Online Communities, Client & Employee Portals, Paid Courses, Services Marketplaces, Resource Directories, and more. The company has raised over $2.2M+ from Atlantic Labs and SuperAngels. Softr boasts customers such as On Deck Capital, Untapped Capital, among other 20,000 creators and companies. Read more about their story in TechCrunch here.
We are looking for startups to cover in our next newsletter! Fill in this form!
Hi! 👋 Thanks for reading Hye Ventures Newsletter. We’d love your feedback - feel free to tweet us @hyeventures or email us at noubar@hye.vc.
If you found this newsletter helpful, share it with friends. Also follow us on Instagram!