BigStory VC venture capital fund co-founder outlines biggest challenge for startups in 2023

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. BigStory VC venture capital fund made 10 new investments in Armenian startups in 2022, seeking to increase the number of high-quality companies in Armenia.

BigStory VC, launched by Krisp co-founders Davit Baghdasaryan and Artavazd Minasyan and Podcastle founder Artavazd Yeritsyan, started making investments from March 2022.

“We were dreaming to see more companies like Krisp and Podcastle. One of our investors played a big role in launching BigStory. We were thinking that it was too early to start a venture capital fund, we couldn’t find the time, but our friend and soon-to-be investor was certain that it was the right time to launch BigStory, and even expressed willingness to invest a large amount of money,” Artavazd Minasyan, the BigStory VC and Krisp co-founder and 10Web founder told ARMENPRESS tech journalist Karine Terteryan.

Minasyan said they spoke with various successful tech businesses and many wanted to become part of the initiative, and as a result the BigStory VC venture fund with a $10,000,000 capital was launched.

BigStory invests in startups launched by Armenian founders that build high-impact, global companies. Each investment is on an average between $100,000 and $300,000, and in exclusive cases also $500,000 in pre-seed and seed stage startups.

“We have three criteria while investing. We attach importance to the team, their previous work, and their experience in the given area. We also closely study the idea. It’s important for the idea to be arrayed correctly, to be able to offer a solution to a real problem the world, and be large-scale. I must also highlight the importance of the idea-founder compatibility. There are certain ideas that only certain people can realize,” Minasyan said.

BigStory VC invested in Docus, Zoomerang, BlueQubit, Sleep Doctor, Prelaunch.com, WildLearner, ProdMap, Mythrill, Stylebit, B4, with WildLearner being their first investment. Minasyan says he is sure that all ten startups are ready to work day and night to achieve their goal. 

“All three of us have extensive entrepreneurship experience. Aside from making investments in the startups, we also share our experience, our connections, we also try to help them in representing their product so that the subsequent stages of funding proceed faster and in the right way. By the way, specialists of our own companies often get involved in helping the startups, and this is a unique approach,” the co-founder added.

BigStory VC maintains good relations with other venture capital funds, and they even have discussions for making investments in some startups.

According to Minasyan, 2022 was a good year for BigStory VC. They considered 60 startups for making investments. Minasyan says it’s important for a venture capital fund to work with many startups.

“The venture market is now recording a historic decline and it’s going to be very difficult to attract new funding. In this regard our startups will have many difficulties in 2023 and we hope that this situation will be surmountable. This is going to be the biggest challenge for the startups in 2023,” Minasyan said.

As for BigStory’s 2023 plans, Minasyan says they want to discover more talented Armenian entrepreneurs and make new investments.