Startup Istanbul speakers are impressed with advance of Armenian IT sector

10 startups from Armenia participated in Startup Istanbul Regional Forum on October 6-10, 2016.

In the framework of this event, Itel.am talked to Burak Buyukdemir, organizer of Startup Istanbul and founder of Etohum, Turkey-based seed fund & accelerator, as well as Vice President of MEF University Erhan Erkut.

Burak Buyukdemir told Itel.am that he was impressed with Armenian startups, which participated in the event.

Burak Buyukdemir
photo © StartupIstanbul

“We watched pitching of some Armenian startups this year. It’s important that an Armenian startup made it to Top-15 in the contest. This fact can encourage others. Istanbul is close to Yerevan, just two hours away. Armenian Skycryptor was in the final, and it has all chances to go to San Francisco.  I believe that we should cooperate more. This isn’t a work for one day,” Burak Buyukdemir noted.

Erhan Erkut is Vice President of MEF University in Turkey. He is considered one of the most influential persons in Turkey’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

“This is the first time that Armenians arrived in a team of 20 people, and I am glad to see that one of the Armenian startups got to the final. I was to Armenia in the scope of the visit organized by Public Journalism Club (Armenia) and TEPAV Foundation (Turkey). I think that all countries in our region should collaborate, as each of them deserves to live better, and the best way to achieve that is through cooperation,” he said.

Erhan Erkut

Erhan Erkut observed that he saw possibilities of such collaboration in Armenia. He was especially impressed with Tumo Center.

“Tumo Center is an innovation. My dream is to found a similar center is Istanbul one day,” Erhan Erkut said.

Erhan Erkut also stressed that Turkey has a large local market that can be in demand for Armenian startups. He believes that cooperation between Armenian and Turkish entrepreneurs can facilitate peace in the region as well.

Representatives of 10 Armenian startups had an opportunity to participate in Startup Istanbul Regional Forum on October 6-10, 2016 with the support of Public Journalism Club (Armenia) and TEPAV Foundation’s (Turkey) Mutual Visits of Businessmen project.

Armenia-Turkey Normalization Process program is implemented by consortium of eight Armenian and Turkish NGOs, by European Union’s financial support.

Mutual Visits of Businessmen project is aimed at creation of new opportunities of cooperation between Armenian and Turkish businessmen, programmers, designers, sales managers, producers and startups from the sphere of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).