EVN Disrupt

Seda Papoyan, founder of FemInno, a female innovation conference and platform, joins us to discuss her efforts in advocating for greater engagement from women in STEM fields. Seda shared the fundamental barriers girls face in entering STEM fields in Armenia. We also spoke about how FemInno has grown into an international initiative, with events taking place in San Francisco and Sydney, in addition to Armenia.

Hrant Davtyan, founder and CEO of Metric and Pinsight, joins us to discuss how his company is building open source LLMs that are able to conduct analytics and extract insights from documents. Pinsight’s product, Anania, allows users to speak directly with their data – asking questions such as how much revenue the company generated last month, or when was the last time a certain customer placed an order. Hrant also shared with us the journey of finding a product that can gain market traction in the era of generative AI, and his thoughts on what ideas are worth pursuing in the AI space.

Lilit Margaryan, the operations manager of Gituzh, joins us to discuss what the initiative has managed to achieve over the last three years. We also dive into the concept of national research and innovation systems, and discuss the prioritization of strategic scientific directions. Lastly, Lilit shares with us their upcoming initiative called Science Week, a week-long series of events that aims to promote science in Armenia.

Vahe Nigoghosian, the founder of EngineerX, joins us to discuss their efforts in building a mechanical engineering ecosystem in Armenia. Vahe shared their recent achievement of becoming an official partner of engineering software provider SolidWorks in Armenia, and the importance of building up a talent pool with expertise in using the system. We also spoke about Vahe’s experience doing business in Armenia, and what it would take to attract a Fortune 500 engineering firm to open an office in the country․

Martin Mirakyan, founder and CEO of Profound Academy, joins us to discuss how their educational platform helps institutions deliver personalized computer science education for their students. Martin explains how Profound Academy utilizes an interactive approach to education, including their use of AI to provide personalized help to students when they’re struggling to understand difficult concepts or complete challenging assignments.

Karine Martirosyan, the founder and CEO of Wearify, joins us to discuss her start-up’s vision for helping online consumers try on clothes virtually before buying them. Karine shares how Wearify builds 3D avatars of their users so that they can see how clothes look on them while shopping online, just as they would in a real store. We also spoke about the role that 3D avatars will take on in the coming years as digital environments become increasingly used for a variety of use cases. Lastly, Karine shared her thoughts on how to decentralize tech in Armenia and promote greater activity outside of Yerevan.

Mikayel Khachatryan, the cofounder and CEO of Wirestock joins us to discuss their company’s increased focus on generative AI for stock content. Mikayel shared the trends he has seen in generated images becoming more common in stock marketplaces, and the products Wirestock is building to enable creators to make money in the age of generative AI. Lastly, he spoke about the capabilities of image and video generation models, and what he expects to see in the coming years.

Tigran Nazaryan, co-founder of 10Web, joins us to discuss how their platform allows users to build websites using AI. Tigran shared with us the founding story of the company, and how their product’s popularity has grown over the last few years. Lastly, Tigran spoke about how AI-built websites will evolve as the capabilities of large AI models continue to develop.

Samson Avetian, the founder and CEO of Eqwefy, joins us to speak about how the platform they’re building is helping enable non-traditional investors to invest in Armenian start-ups. Samson also shared his thoughts on the importance of educating society on personal finance, and encouraging more investing throughout society.

Sona Veziryan, Director of the Business Angel Network of Armenia (BANA), joins us to provide a review of the progress and developments in Armenia’s tech ecosystem throughout 2023. Sona offered insights into the variety of companies she encounters as an investor, and the kinds of companies she aspires to see more of in Armenia in the future. She also shared with us her thoughts on the state of the investment landscape both in Armenia, as well as globally, and what she expects in 2024. Lastly, Sona shared her thoughts on how to popularize angel investing in Armenia.