Science and Technology Angels Network

We're heading to LA Tech Week! 🌴

On October 14, STAN is hosting a science & tech pitching session at CBRE's office in Downtown LA, as part of TECH WEEK by a16z.

Startups pitch to investors and STAN angels and get direct feedback. Then everyone stays for networking with the LA tech community.

🗓 Wed, Oct 14 · 5–9 PM · Downtown LA

🔬 Startups: apply by Oct 6 👉 link in comments
💼 Investors: the pitching session is invite-only. Request an invitation 👉 link in comments
🤝 Everyone: join the open networking 👉 link in comments

Huge thanks to Triple S Ventures, our LA Chapter partner, and to our co-chairs Avetis Avo Antaplyan and Avag Simonyan for making it happen!

A milestone for STAN in Armenia.

On September 17, we held the first pitching session under the STAN Yerevan Chapter, in partnership with Plug and Play Armenia.

The session also served as Startup World Cup Yerevan, part of the global competition organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures.

More than 30 angels and invited guests joined us, including Tatev Aslanyan, Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence.

The Yerevan Chapter is co-chaired by Harut Muradyan, Angel Co-Chair, and Sona Grigoryan, Institutional Partner Co-Chair.

Six finalist teams pitched: Manvel Robotics, Gruvi AI, Uray, Decato, Ethery Tech, and oloround. STAN angels considered the teams for investment.

One team will be selected as Armenia’s nominee for the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in San Francisco.

Thank you to FAST for helping bring this opportunity to Armenia, and to Startup World Cup and Pegasus Tech Ventures for their collaboration.

Plug and Play Tech Center
FAST - Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology

STAN’s 30th pitching session is just around the corner!

On September 17, 2026, STAN angels will consider six teams for investment, selected from more than 90 startups reviewed. This marks the first official pitching session of our Yerevan Chapter.

There’s more: one team will be nominated to represent Armenia at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in San Francisco!

In partnership with Plug and Play Armenia, Startup World Cup, Pegasus Tech Ventures, and FAST.

Follow STAN for updates from the session!

We are pleased to announce the Co-Chairs of the STAN Yerevan Chapter. 🇦🇲

Harut Muradyan will serve as STAN Angel Co-Chair. Harut is the Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Technologies, a software entrepreneur, and an angel investor with more than a decade of investment experience.

Sona Grigoryan will serve as Institutional Co-Chair. Sona is the Director of Plug and Play Armenia, where she leads acceleration and training initiatives and supports startups with business development and investment readiness.

This co-chair structure creates a foundation for deeper collaboration between STAN and Plug and Play Armenia, connecting STAN’s angel community with Plug and Play’s institutional experience and startup programs.

We look forward to working with Harut and Sona as the Yerevan Chapter begins its work.

Plug and Play Tech Center

STAN is launching its Yerevan Chapter. 🇦🇲

STAN was established by FAST - Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology in 2018 with a focus on supporting Armenia’s startup ecosystem. After becoming an independent organization, our community and mission continued to grow. STAN developed into an international network, establishing its Los Angeles Chapter in 2024, followed by chapters in Paris and New York in 2026.

Launching the Yerevan Chapter is a natural next step in this development. It formalizes and strengthens our work in Armenia through a dedicated local structure, ensuring that Yerevan remains a core strategic priority as STAN’s international network continues to grow.

The STAN Yerevan Chapter is being launched in partnership with Plug and Play Armenia. Together, we aim to develop a structured collaboration around acceleration programs, joint investments, and broader support for Armenia’s technology ecosystem.

The new chapter will begin by hosting STAN’s 30th Pitching Session in Yerevan on September 17, 2026, featuring four startup tracks:

• Acceleration Track: Startups participating in or graduated from a pre-acceleration or acceleration program

• Expat Track: Startups founded by expatriates based in Armenia

• Women-Led Startups: Startups led by women founders

• General Track: Science and technology startups

The Yerevan Chapter will connect local founders with capital, expertise, mentorship, and international opportunities while creating new ways for local and international angel investors to engage with Armenia’s technology ecosystem.

Plug and Play Tech Center

🚀 We are excited to announce that STAN angels have invested in Talon Avionics.

Small, inexpensive drones are creating a growing challenge: traditional defense systems can be far more expensive than the threats they are designed to stop.

Talon is addressing this imbalance by developing SECTR—a modular counter-drone system that uses real-time acoustic tracking, sensor fusion, and autonomous interceptors to detect and neutralize small drones more affordably.

The company is led by founder and CEO Dmitrii Akopian, an experienced embedded-systems builder whose background includes Tesla, Apple Special Projects, and Figure AI.

Talon’s journey with our community included presentations to STAN angels in Los Angeles on May 26 and Paris on June 18, connecting the team with members across our international network.

We are proud to support Dmitrii and the Talon team as they continue developing and testing this important technology.

Learn more about Talon Avionics: https://talonavionics.com/

🚀 Applications are open for STAN’s 30th Pitching Session!

Are you building an early-stage science or technology startup? Apply for the opportunity to pitch to STAN’s angel investor community in Yerevan.

We welcome:

• Expat-founded startups based in Armenia
• Accelerator participants and graduates
• Women-led startups
• Science and technology startups across all sectors

📅 Event: September 17, 2026
⏰ Priority deadline: August 28
⏰ Final deadline: September 10

Approximately five to six startups will be selected.

👉 Apply to pitch: https://app.dealum.com/ #/company/application/new/175367/vf7mhyo9ahf829oqz1zkbtkbblgamp6r

Interested in becoming a STAN angel? Prospective angel investors can request to attend the session as guests:

👉 Request guest access: https://ubqt.joinubqt.com/catch-up?token=1nu158Dw4iw7qbumyM_u-l6xAZRpGpKBoMSWDLC1g-g

🚀 We are excited to welcome Narek Beghian to STAN as a new angel investor!

Narek is a product leader whose 1️⃣5️⃣-year journey has taken him across industries and continents, from Paris to Hong Kong, New York, and Silicon Valley.

His path runs through the full arc of financial technology: trading systems for investment banks and asset managers at Murex, financial advisor platforms at BlackRock, digital assets at Anchorage Digital, and most recently enterprise AI at Contextual AI. Across all of it, one constant: taking products from zero to one in environments where reliability, trust, and regulation set a high bar.

As an angel with STAN, Narek brings the perspective of a builder who has lived the 0 to 1 journey inside demanding institutions and industries. Founders in our network will find in him a hands-on thinking partner on product strategy, enterprise software, and applying AI in regulated industries.

🌟 Welcome to STAN, Narek!

How are Armenian startups broadening their global market horizons?

A new Armenian Weekly article examines how founders are looking beyond a single market and choosing expansion paths based on customer demand, regulation and competitive opportunity.

STAN CEO Ruben Osipyan contributed his perspective on an important challenge: while diaspora connections can help open doors, sustainable international growth also requires founders to strengthen their sales, communication and relationship-building capabilities across diverse markets.

Thank you to Goharik Hovhannisyan for highlighting this evolution in Armenia’s startup ecosystem.

Read the article in the comments.

Photo: DigiTec, via Armenian Weekly