ArmInfo. The prize fund of Sevan StartUp Summit business forum in 2017 was $ 40 thousand, compared to $ 7.5 thousand a year ago, Hakob Hakobyan the founder of the StartUp Armenia fund stated on July 21 at the press conference.
According to him, the forum has expanded not only the geography of participants, but also investors, partners, mentors and teachers. In particular, among the applicants besides Armenian start-ups there are teams from India, Colombia, Iran, Georgia, and Russia. Taking into account the unprecedented involvement of a wide partner network, investors and companies of different directions, according to A. Akopyan, the forum is now at the center of attention, which obliges the Fund to work more quickly to conduct a tent business forum in 2018, with the aim of increasing the international significance of the event. "We want to make the Sevan StartUp Summit center on the startup map so that participation in our forum is already considered an achievement," he stressed. In particular, the head of StartUp Armenia noted that next year the Fund hopes to attract participants from 30-50 countries. At the same time, the organizers associate positive expectations with investments. In this regard, Hakobyan noted that last year the volume of investments from investors was about $ 30 thousand. "This year we expect investments to exceed $ 200 thousand," he said.
Ameriabank is the general partner of the business forum. "The bank rendered financial assistance to the Fund in organizing the forum, and the Grand prix of $ 8,000 will also be provided by Ameriabank," said Ameriabank's director for technology and operations, Burastan Movsisyan, responding to a question from ArmInfo. In this regard, she stressed that the Bank is pleased to make its contribution and be part of a similar project that will contribute to the development of innovative business in the country.
Within the framework of the forum, according to the organizers, for participants from July 24 to 26 will be held 12 lectures, after which competitions will begin on July 27 for teams of different directions, in particular start-up-battles, competitions for programmers. Big Battle will be held on July 30, within which the team that won first place will receive $ 5 thousand, second place - $ 2.5 thousand and third place - $ 1,000. At the same time, according to the forum conditions, more than 20 teams will receive cash prizes. The total number of startup teams is about 100, which will present their ideas, products and solutions in financial, technological, agricultural, scientific, tourist and other fields. Every day, up to 1000 visitors are expected. 700 people will live in a tent city on the shore of Sevan for 7 days, and the number of mentors and teachers will exceed 300 people.
To note, CJSC "Ameriabank" is a universal bank that offers the investment, corporative and retail banking services. The shareholder of the bank is Ameria Group CY Ltd. with 100% share in the capital.
