The Startup Ecosystem of Armenia

As a landlocked country with restricted land access due to tensions with Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Armenian ecosystem manages to show true resilience. The Armenian government has long understood that innovation is critical to the future of the country, and resources have been allocated to grow the ecosystem.
The tech sector in Armenia attracts new investments that fuel growth. The country’s first unicorn, PicsArt, reached a US$ 1 billion in valuation and bought another Armenian startup, DeepCraft. Moreover, the Armenian startup scene has seen growth in terms of entrepreneurship and tech development, with companies like Shadowmatic and YerevaNN receiving praise for designing deep learning technologies.
A strong and successful Armenian diaspora is supporting the Armenian economy, and several highly successful American entrepreneurs of Armenian origin, like Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, are working to boost the local startup ecosystem.
Armenian startups are built to target the global market from inception due to the small market size of the country. Armenia has a population of only 3 million people, but offers a sizable amount of tech talent. In addition to the talent available in the country, Business Angel Network in Armenia plays an active role in the ecosystem by creating funding opportunities with the Angel Conference. Also, together with SAP Startup Factory, they have a B2B startup incubator called Startup Factory by BANA.
The Armenian government offers several programs to support its tech startups, including tax incentives. To support foreign investment, Armenia established Free Economic Zones and full ownership among other incentives under the legal framework On Foreign Investments. During the past few years, Armenia made significant progress in reducing bureaucracy and corruption. While the Armenian startup ecosystems are still in their early stages and the country has work to do to recover from its turbulent past, there is substantial untapped potential waiting to come to the surface.