4 things about Armenia as a tech hub: from startups to coding for kids

PanARMENIAN.Net - Technology media platform TechWorm has published an article on Armenia, suggesting the country has a few things to surprise the world with, and one of them is tech development. The feature focuses on 4 aspects making Armenia a tech center – startups, coding cources for kids, domestic production and Armenians in major tech firms.

Despite its small size, author Narine Daneghyan says, nowadays approximately 200 tech startups operate in the country. At least 10 startups have passed the borders of Armenia, attracting millions of users and foreign investments.

Among the highlights is Shadowmatic, a famous Armenian tech product which was launched in January 2015 by Triada Studio. The game is available in 13 languages and was awarded with Apple Design Awards in June, 2015.

“PicsArt mobile app has more than 250 million downloads and 65 million active users monthly. It is declared one of the 2015 Forbes Hottest Startups of Silicon Valley, and evaluated $250 million by Forbes.

Renderforest is a free online animated video maker which helps to create professional intros, animations, slideshows and music visualizations in minutes. The platform has 28000 active users monthly,” the article says.

Other success stories include Teamable, which works with human resources management, providing software for around 20 U.S. companies, including Uber, Lyft, and Oracle; Codefights online platform where over 300 000 programmers compete with each other in order to improve coding skills; Joomag which developed the first innovative platform for creating interactive digital magazines, brochures and catalogs. The company’s clients include Huffington Post, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Bazaar, has more than 300 000 publishers worldwide.

Another surprising feature of the tech industry in the country is that kids in Armenia love coding. Almost 120 robotics dedicated groups and engineering laboratories called Armath exist in the country where more than 2000 school children study. By 2019 Armath laboratories will exist in every school of the country.

Kids code not only at school but also in TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. It’s a tuition free after-school environment where students aged 12-18 learn animation, game development, web design and film making.

Armenia is producing its own smartphones and tablets – Armphone and ArmTab. Parts of ArmPhone are imported from the same places where Samsung and Apple order parts for their phones (Hong Kong, Taiwan, China), but the branding and design are done in Armenia, the article says.

And last but not least, the author suggests you will most likely find Armenians in every global tech company nowadays. The top 3, according to her, include Reddit’s co-founder and executive chairman Alexis Ohanian, former VP of platform engineering at Twitter and current engineering lead at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group Raffi Krikorian and Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Corporation Vahe Torossian.