EPIC Startups Pitch their Ventures to Investors at Demo Day

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YEREVAN, Armenia – On February 7, 2020, the Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) held the biannual Demo Day for its incubation program participants. The Demo Day provided a platform for EPIC startup teams to present their ventures to investors, mentors, accelerators, as well as AUA faculty, students, alumni, and supporters who filled the AUA small auditorium to capacity. The event was live-streamed.

This Fall 2019 batch had enrolled in the EPIC incubator program in October 2019. The program consisted of intensive workshops, one-on-one meetings with mentors and advisors, and inspiring presentations from local and international entrepreneurs. After completing the program, the teams validated their venture ideas to the point of building business models.

Seven teams presented their startups on Demo Day. EatUp is a mobile app that enables people to manage their dietary lifestyles and restrictions, by helping them make personalized food choices for a better dining experience. UniQ is a platform that connects social media influencers and small businesses with writers that provide captions for their online social media posts. 

Nver Kassis, the CEO of uniQ, shared her experience with EPIC: “EPIC promised multiple startup teams to turn their idea into a viable business. They did not only achieve that, but also equipped us with a wide network of industry experts, fruitful sessions, endless support, and lots of pizza. Thank you to the EPIC team for making this journey purely epic!”

TutWiser is a two-sided platform that connects students and tutors. LearnY offers applied gaming solutions for education to enhance students’ knowledge through entertainment. AI Language Wiz is a language learning mobile app with an animated AI-driven avatar acting as a tutor for practicing speaking. Feedle is an automatic pet feeder that relies on IoT technology to provide fresh food and water and to monitor pets’ health based on their eating habits. Salon is an online booking application for beauty services. 

“The demo day was a perfect opportunity for starting entrepreneurs to prove themselves and their ideas and gain feedback from the audience. We tested the progress from our journey at EPIC with our final pitch on that day,” said Mark Hovsepyan, co-founder and CEO of TutWiser.

AUA President Dr. Karin Markides attended the presentation. She noted: “The EPIC Demo Day demonstrated the true value of the open outreach culture at AUA, where age, disciplines and diverse social backgrounds meet around innovative solutions enabled by forefront knowledge and communication skills. The entrepreneurial driving force was infectious, and the team awareness of diversity in personal preferences to success  deserves respect.”

The presentations were followed by a reception where the teams had the opportunity to network and answer questions from interested investors and entrepreneurs. 

A replay of the EPIC Demo Day presentations is available online.

The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform of the American University of Armenia (AUA) for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for 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 in students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.