EPIC Participates in Sevan Startup Summit 2018

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SEVAN, Armenia ‒ The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) participated in the third annual Sevan Startup Summit 2018, which took place on the shores of Lake Sevan from July 22 to July 29. The Sevan Startup Summit has been fostering innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem development across the region since 2016.

This year, the event attracted more than 800 vibrant startups, mentors, leading angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and policy makers from over 25 countries who came together to join their peers in an informal setting to think, act and transform their environment via entrepreneurship. The Summit included week-long deep-topic workshops, introductory sessions on a range of business and technical topics, and dialogues with leading entrepreneurs and investors.

AUA EPIC was among the partners of the Summit and both EPIC staff and venture teams actively participated. EPIC staff led advising and mentoring sessions, lectured and taught business and pitching skills to the participants, as well as served on competition juries.

Professor Michael Kouchakdjian, Director of EPIC, delivered a series of lectures, mentored close to a dozen startup teams, among which were the first and third place winners of the best venture competition finals, and served on the jury of the Healthcare track venture competition.

Several EPIC startup teams, including TapTap, AdvPortal, and Currencii, participated in the Summit. The second place winner of the best venture competition was the startup Currencii, founded by Vahagn Grigoryan (MBA ’14). As a finalist and second-place winner, Currencii received a $3,000 prize. Currencii is an online platform that allows exchanging money without going to a bank or currency exchange office. The application is a bridge between currency buyers and sellers, helping them to minimize currency exchange-related costs.

Aram Keryan, Operations Manager at EPIC, mentored aspiring entrepreneurs with a focus on sharpening business skills. Irina Gabrielyan, Administrative Coordinator at EPIC, coached six startup teams, two of which were selected as industry-track winners, one of which participated in the final venture competition.

The Facebook video about Seaside Startup Summit can be accessed here.

The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for the American University of Armenia’s (AUA) emerging entrepreneurs consisting of first-class facilities and collaborative workspace, programs and events, and a network of mentors, advisors and investors. EPIC fosters the understanding and application of entrepreneurship with students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.

https://www.facebook.com/seasidestartupsummit/videos/692314504455763/