The Enterprise Incubator Foundation’s Innovation and Regional Matching Grants (IMG) competitions have paved a way to success for many Armenian startups in recent years. With the mentorship and funding they received from the project, the startups have perfected their products and expanded their activity beyond Armenia’s borders, entering international markets. They operate in different sectors, but their journeys share the same point of a push forward – the IMG competitions.

On April 15, it was time to celebrate the grantees, and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) has held the IMG Demo Day at the Megerian Carpet Armenia. The event honored the winners of the 1st competition, implemented by the EIF in the framework of Armenian Government’s and World Bank’s Trade Promotion and Quality Infrastructure (TPQI) program.

The grantees held business presentations for the audience of representatives of partner organizations, introducing them to the achievements they marked during the program and the plans for the future.

Here are the 5 TPQI-IMG grantees that participated in the event:

Nairi-STEM

Nairi-STEM created a ready-to-use educational platform that can be used for testing by students and faculty specialized in alternative energy. The startup formed a partnership with ANEL (Armenian National Engineering Laboratories) to allow students to test the platform and provide comments that would be used to upgrade it.

The platform, called Solar Energy Educational-Research Lab, helps to determine the efficiency of solar panels. The platform has a strong control and measurement system, which makes it versatile and possible to be used for production and research purposes with equal success. Nairi Stem Director Ani Tosunyan has told us that the grant enabled her team to acquire new equipment that makes the production process more efficient. Additionally, the grant funds helped the startup with branding and marketing initiatives.

Stem Didactics

The startup is actively selling its educational trainer kits for STEM students, which are designed to increase students’ engagement and productivity. The Pinokit’s design is based on a simple computer PI Zero, thanks to which the kit is an affordable tool for practical learning.

Stem Didacticshas expanded the scope of its activity and now cooperates with the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University in addition to establishing presence in Europe.

Revalcon

Revalcon is a startup, focused on technological solutions for agricultural problems, sells its products both in Armenia and abroad and participates in various international exhibitions.

Revalcon’s end-to-end solutions control the irrigation process through mobile and web apps, using weather data. Additionally, the technology provides inter-machine interaction at a distance of up to 15 km with minimal energy consumption. The startup is also the winner of the Green Agri-Tech Startup Clash 2021 competition.

Revalcon’s Head of Marketing Gevorg Hovhannisyan has told us that thanks to the funding Revalcon secured by winning the IMG grant, the startup developed the mobile application that manages the irrigation process.

Velvioo

With the help of the grant, the startup which is the maker of the ANIV application, is present in bike-sharing marketsinArmenia, Argentina, USA, and the United Arab Emirates. The vision of Velvioo is to provide clean, affordable, and effective methods of transportation. The key priority of the startup’s strategy and operation is safety on the road.

Wirestock

The startup behind the content platform, which provides one-door access to the largest stock content marketplaces, raised USD 2.3M in a recent investment round. Wirestock protects the intellectual property rights of the creators, as the copyright information about each item managed through the platform gets registered on a blockchain-based copyright registry, making it much easier for the creators to prove ownership.

Just under the auspices of the TPQI program, around 30 teams were awarded six-digit grants in the IMG and RMG competitions held by EIF. The competitions are part of the Foundation’s continuous efforts aimed at developing Armenia’s high-tech sector and enhancing the application of technological solutions in non-tech industries. As more Armenian companies secure the funds required for creating high-quality products, the technological development in the country confidently gains pace.