Armenian Tech Sector in Numbers
Armenia is actively turning into a new regional hub of advanced technology and innovation providing software and hardware solutions and products to customers all around the world.
Being one of the leading technology centers of the Soviet Union and having a strong and smart human capital served as a solid ground for Armenia to grasp the power of tech in the 2000s and give it exponential growth.
Today we stand as a tech nation with already world-known products, local enterprises, a multilingual workforce and solid international experience.
Armenian Tech | 2020
We decided to research and make the summary of the local tech environment to present the uniqueness of the Armenian tech sector and share some numbers highlighting the key achievements of local tech players, the dynamic workforce, service companies with global impact, and the growing startup ecosystem.
The tech sector saw positive changes after the establishment of the Ministry of High-Tech Industry (formerly the tech sector was regulated by the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies). Today the government is very proactive in supporting entrepreneurship with tech startups receiving attractive tax incentives (0% income tax, 10% flat payroll tax).
Many factors are supporting the healthy growth of tech companies. As of December 2019, 71.8% of the population in the country uses the internet. Mobile 3G is covering around 90% of the country. 4G and 4G+ services are available in large cities.
The internet utility costs range from 2 to 15 USD per month. The average price for Mbps is around 0.27 USD per month.
Today the ICT sector employs 28,460 employees out of which 16,212 are in IT companies.
Every year more than 1800 students graduate from IT-related faculties. Besides, a lot of non-techie people attend professional courses and training to get tech education at the technology centers and join the IT workforce as project managers, quality assurance specialists and marketers.
There are 2500 + registered ICT companies based on official data (2019 December), but based on our research and not publicly available data, we already have about 4000 companies 20% of which are 1-person-only companies.
One of the unique characteristics of the Armenian tech sector is the high percentage of women (45,2%) in tech. Armenian women are full-fledged participants of the sector involved not only in business and marketing departments but in game development, programming and QA.
With the growing attractiveness of the Armenian tech entrepreneurship, many of the world’s tech giants like Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Synopsys and Cisco established their presence in Armenia during the past few years through notable acquisitions of first-generation Armenian startups.
Armenian Startup Ecosystem
In the past 4-5 years, a very promising, vibrant, and inspiring start-up culture has emerged, producing high-profile teams and products that have already achieved international recognition. Below we have presented the local startup ecosystem with major programs and key organizations providing startup support and guidance from idea validation, acceleration services to seed investments, networking, and new market entry.
Interested in learning more about the local startup ecosystem and some of the key players supporting local startups and their services, check one of our recent articles.
The promising growth of the tech scene has inspired also Armenian Diaspora companies like Service Titan, which is now valued at about $1 billion, to set up their development team also in Armenia. Service Titan is the first Armenian-founded tech unicorn.
To mention just a few prominent names that have raised Armenian startup to a new level:
SuperAnnotate – One of the heroes of 2020. The company provides super-fast (10-20x) and pixel-accurate image annotation based on AI-powered object selection technology. The co-founders of the product are two brothers who dropped out of their Ph.D. programs to found SuperAnnotate. They have already raised 3M seed funding to enhance the platform. The solution helps companies from autonomous vehicles, consumers, retail, medical, etc. in acquiring high-quality training data while saving time, money and accelerating computer vision solutions.
Renderforest is an all-in-one branding platform making professional branding accessible to everyone. With a highly creative and enthusiastic team, the platform offers the best online branding tools to create high-quality videos, logos, graphics, mockups, and websites with minimal time and effort.
gg Taxi – One of the most patriotic teams and useful products in Armenia. It’s popular not only in Armenia but also abroad, since the team plans to enter new markets. Highly recommended taxi app and many Armenians will tell you that the cars are nicer and safer as GG puts higher standards on who can or can not become a driver for their product.
Embry Tech – Visible Results with Invisible Tracking.
Founded in 2017, the Embry Tech team develops hardware and software solutions for shoes to turn them into biometric data tracking and wellness monitoring device. Their patent-pending technology measures weight change, number of steps, cardio and sitting time, calories burned throughout the day. Interested in learning more? Check the demo of the product.
Software Outsourcing Companies with Global Impact
When it comes to software outsourcing and finding reliable tech partners from Armenia to develop your business applications, Armenians are early adopters who can describe themselves as “thinkers” and “tech innovators” rather than “doers and coders”.
There are key service players in the market with more than 10 years of experience working successfully with industry leaders from all around the world and building custom CRMs, ERPs, automation tools and SaaS platforms. And there are younger and smaller teams, focusing on niche sectors and specific solution development for their partners.
Key services popular for outsourcing and provided by Armenian tech companies are custom software development, mobile app development Website and eCommerce platform development and DevOps.
Below we have presented the names of some of the key players in the market.
VOLO
Technology Focus: .NET
VOLO is a unique software development company that established solid teams (4 offices) in Armenia and went global by opening 3 development offices in Ukraine. Founded in 2006 by two developers, the team has grown to 250+ specialists and is actively growing.
Services provided by VOLO team:
- Enterprise Application Development
- Mobile App Development
- IT Management and DevOps / DevSecOps
- AI/ML and Internet of Things Solutions
SFL
Technology Focus: JAVA
SFL is a software development and consulting company bringing digital transformation to many businesses around the globe. Founded in 2006, the company has been offering offshoring and outsourcing solutions to a number of clients worldwide.
Preezma
Technology Focus: Node JS
Preezma is a custom software development and IT consulting company based in Yerevan. Since 2013, the Preezma team has made successful tech partnerships with local and international companies. The team has successfully developed diverse Management Systems, Social Networks, and Marketing Tools with next-gen engineering solutions.
CodeRiders
Technology Focus: PHP
CodeRiders is a team of tech enthusiasts who provide quality software solutions to automate manual business processes. They have mastered several technologies and actively utilize the newest tools and tech trends to stay ahead of the technology curve.
Develandoo
Technology Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Develandoo is one of the AI-focused companies in Armenia with core competence in deep-learning and computer vision. The team has already achieved tangible outcomes in the smart city and retail industries. They aim at becoming the leading AI company in Armenia. Looking forward to trying good AI solutions from the team.
Why Armenian Tech Talent?
In case the numbers and the above-mentioned information didn’t convince you yet why you should partner with Armenian tech talent, then you should know how we grow and prepare this talent right from the school age.
CHESS
In the 2011–12 school year, chess classes became part of the curriculum in every public school in Armenia, making it the first country in the world to make chess mandatory in schools.
Armenia ranks #3 for Chess grandmasters per capita.
ARMATH
It all started with one man’s dedication back in 2014. Karen Vardanyan, who had a life mission to improve the tech studies of Armenian children, initiated a program called Armath. The program established robotics laboratories in rural schools across all of Armenia. The initiative was free and spread rapidly with many Armenian tech companies willing to join and support the efforts. Today, there are now 575 Armath labs in Armenia, Georgia, and India.
Only in Armenia Armath has over 15,000 students—84% of which are admitted to universities and 39% combine studies and work.
TUMO CENTER FOR CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
TUMO is a big source of inspiration and motivation for Armenian teens. Students from 12 to18 attend the center to get a practical education and learn because they want to. The TUMO learning program is made up of self-learning activities, workshops and project labs.
From the very first day of establishment, TUMO became very popular and demanded among Armenian teens. Over 20 000 teens are involved in diverse learning programs. Today there are Tumo centers in Yerevan, Dilijan, Gyumri and Stepanakert. Also, two TUMO Boxes in Berd and Gavar. Outside of Armenia, there are centers in Paris, Moscow, Tirana, Berlin and Beirut. The opening of new centers in Koghb and Masis is in progress.
This is just a swift recap of the ever-growing Armenian tech sector. Follow Darpass Insights for further coverage of ground-breaking Armenian software development companies and promising startups.
With the already notable achievements, we do believe in the potential of the vibrant Armenian tech sector to generate great results and place the country as one of the leaders in the global tech map.