Author: Ophelia Vardapetian

 13:36, 3 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. From the world's first seaside startup camp to a global venture fund. 

A prominent entertainment executive, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Artur Janibekyan, along with the co-founders of “Seaside Startup Summit” – Hakob Hakobyan and Avag Simonyan, have founded a new international Venture Capital firm called Triple S Ventures. 

Triple S has decided to engage more actively in Armenia and abroad. It targets startups in the Pre-seed or Seed stages and plans to focus its investments across AI and Blockchain technologies, creator economy, SaaS platforms and Fintech.

The founder of TripleS Ventures Artur Janibekyan has invested in over 15 startups in recent years and has a big interest in the development of the innovative startup culture.

“There is a great potential not only in Armenia but also among Armenian youth that is spread all over the world. We aim to find these striking young minds and help them with funds and our network of mentors and professionals. TripleS is a structure that will be their guiding hand in the entrepreneurship world.

My extensive experience in the Media world has proven that I have a refined skill and intuition in choosing people – human resources. I consider this one of the keys to my success as well. This is a small start of something grand and is an accumulated potential of talented people, a club of successful entrepreneurs who invest their money in innovative ideas”, said General Partner Artur Janibekyan.

Triple S is a group of international entrepreneurs, investors, experts, and mentors, committed to helping the best impact-driven startup founders and ideas, by providing access to a network of partners, talent, investors, or customers and by sharing expert knowledge in the legal, marketing & finance fields. 

"We have been organizing large-scale startup events annually, including the Seaside Startup Summit. Local venture funds, angel investors, and international accelerating programs have used these events for many years as a source to haunt startuppers. During the last years, hundreds of entrepreneurs and bold minds gathered around these events and created a pipeline for us”, said GP Hakob Hakobyan. 

 "We believe that with the hyperactive drive seen across the startup ecosystem in the last 5 years, it is important for established startup players to take the lead in paving the way towards capacity building for the new startups. Our fund is most importantly looking to invest in scalable ideas and promising founders. It will support the startups that will add value to the growth of the Armenian High-Tech Ecosystem but won't limit ourselves and will invest in any idea and a prominent team that matches our requirements," said the managing partner Avag Simonyan.

“We brought together successful LPs in the fund, who are also a network of internationally qualified and experienced field gurus. At TripleS ventures, we want promising ideas to ride on the skills, knowledge, and expertise that we have built over the years, thus empowering them to grow at an accelerated pace," said the venture partner Zareh Baghdasarian.

Triple S is also launching in the US- Southern California. The fund has set goals to expand its geographical targets soon, by expanding to North California. Ultimately, one of its goals is to provide expertise internationally and identify new investment opportunities by expanding to the following markets: EEU, US & the UK. The founders are planning to have larger funds in the future and are open to new partnerships and collaborations.

Azerbaijan's behavior nullifies any guarantee of the right to life of people living in Artsakh. Ombudsman

 19:45, 3 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristine Grigoryan addressed Azerbaijan's military operations in a statement, stressing that this criminal behavior of Azerbaijan is reprehensible, it directly threatens and essentially nullifies any guarantee of the right to life of people living in Artsakh, which is the most vital component of peace.

“On the 1st and 2nd of August, and today, the Azerbaijani side conducted aggressive military operations in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping mission in the various directions of Artsakh, using weapons of various calibers, grenade launchers, and attack unmanned aerial vehicles.

These acts grossly violate the principles of international law on the prohibition on the use of force and the threat of use of force, as well as the obligations of the Azerbaijani state under the trilateral agreement of November 9, 2020.

This criminal behavior of Azerbaijan is reprehensible, it directly endangers, and in fact, nullifies any guarantee of life for people living in Artsakh, which is the most vital component of peace. The criminal acts of the Azerbaijani side must cease immediately.

Regardless of the geography of the incidents and the politico-military objectives of the parties involved, this encroachment on the right to life and other fundamental rights of the civilian population must receive its true assessment.

I have called upon the ambassadors of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries, and other international actors involved in the conflict resolution to make maximum efforts in the direction of truly guaranteeing the right to life of the peaceful population of Artsakh”, reads the statement.

The tension in Nagorno-Karabakh started on August 1, when, according to the Artsakh Defense Army, Azerbaijani units resorted to provocation in a number of parts of the northern and northwestern border zone of the Artsakh Republic starting at 09:00 in the morning, trying to cross the contact line. As a result of the Azerbaijani provocation, the serviceman Albert Bakhshiyan was injured. Aggressive actions of the Azerbaijani side continued in the following days. On August 3, around 3:00 p.m., Azerbaijani units launched a new attack in the northwestern direction of the contact line, using attack drones, as a result of which two servicemen of the Artsakh Defense Army were killed, and 14 more servicemen were wounded in various degrees.

IBA opens registration for the next Extraordinary Congress to be held in Yerevan

 19:28,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. The International Boxing Association (IBA) opened online registration for participants of its next Extraordinary Congress which will take place on 25 September 2022. As was previously announced on 15 July, the IBA Board of Directors decided that the Congress will be held in Yerevan, Armenia, ARMENPRESS was informed from IBA’s official website.

The main agenda of this Extraordinary Congress is for the National Federations to decide on the necessity of the new Presidential elections. 

IBA President Umar Kremlev said: “I encourage all National Federations to register for the upcoming Congress because in our fight for good governance, IBA strives for absolute transparency when it comes to important decisions such as a Presidential election.”

 14:29,

BEIJING, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. National costumes are much more than clothing: they express culture and identity or a period of time in history.

Many designers and garment manufacturers often look to these traditional costumes for inspiration.

In China, Chinese clothing describes both the traditional hanfu and modern variations of indigenous Chinese dress shaped through its dynastic traditions.

Jixiang Zhai, a traditional costume designer based in Beijing, was founded in 2002 by Yang Fann, a young fashion designer who came up with the idea while touring Europe. Fann’s goal was to promote Chinese clothing.

Jixiang Zhai Beijing store manager Xi Nana told ARMENPRESS that the Chinese traditional clothing is very popular among young people and has prospects in the international market.

“I can say that there is growing interest among Chinese women – both teenagers and adults – for the traditional clothing. Wearing our clothing, the young people are trying to become part of our history,” Xi Nana said.

The store manager says that Jixiang Zhai clothing bear the peculiarities of different dynasties.

“The Chinese traditional clothing has fascinating eternity in it. It has the chance to become a part of world fashion,” Xi Nana said.