Category: 2023

 09:35,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. When influencers began redefining marketing as we knew it, brands and businesses started either hiring marketing agencies or doing all the time-consuming work themselves for finding the right influencer to advance their marketing campaign.

It didn’t take long for tech companies to develop influencer marketplaces to help firms bolster their marketing campaigns, save time and cut expenses.

An influencer marketplace is essentially an online tool that connects marketers, brands or businesses with influencers in social channels to promote a service or product.

One such marketplace is ViralMango, an Armenian startup that is now launched in the United States which already has over 60,000 registered influencers and 300-400 businesses.

“Now there’s a situation when people are not noticing the advertisements on social media, and the ads are gradually losing their effect,” said Rem Darbinyan, the Founder and CEO of ViralMango. Darbinyan is a serial entrepreneur who’s also founded SmartClick AI.

“At the same time, there are people who have many followers, they are influencers, and whenever they showcase some product the demand for that product or service grows. We try to find influencers who are active on social media, who have an audience, and we also try to find organizations who want to promote themselves. We link these two sides with each other,” Darbinyan told ARMENPRESS in an interview. 

With over 150,000,000 influencers around the world, it is difficult for businesses to find the right pick. Thus, ViralMango is using AI to find a potential match. The CEO says there are similar platforms but ViralMango offers several advantages.

“We are mainly working with nano and micro influencers. Nano influencers have between 1000 and 10,000 followers while micro influencers have between 10,000 and 50,000 followers. These influencers maintain a more active and closer communication with their audience because they manage to reply to messages, comments, therefore the advertisement becomes more targeted and effective,” Darbinyan said.

AI also determines the price of ads using statistical data. All it takes for influencers or companies to use ViralMango is a simple registration.

“For businesses, the advantage of using our platform is that they will get the ready content by paying comparably less money, and can use it in their social channels without copyright infringement. Whereas it would take them a lot more time and expenses if they were to maintain a dedicated team for the job,” Darbinyan said.

Amid a rapidly transforming market, ViralMango is studying the trends to act accordingly.

ViralMango received investments from Anton Yeranossian and Thomas Mazejian from BANA Angels, the Formula VC and BigStory VC.

Karine Terteryan

 10:19,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. There’s always been urgency to achieve peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the United States State Department said on March 9, describing the situation as “delicate”.

“There’s always been urgency with this,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing. “And there’s been urgency because this is a delicate situation.”

Price was asked to comment on the U.S. intelligence report which predicts tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the absence of a peace treaty and how much urgency the report adds on in terms of the US efforts to bring about peace.

“It’s a situation that is far too prone to violence, as we’ve seen in recent days in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and it is a longstanding conflict that the United States would like to do everything we can to support its resolution. We’re going to continue to do that by working bilaterally with these countries, trilaterally with Armenia and Azerbaijan, supporting their own efforts at dialogue and diplomacy, but also through all appropriate mechanisms to help these countries themselves conduct the diplomacy and reach the agreements that we hope that they will be able to make,” Price added.

 10:21,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. Three new cases of measles were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the ongoing local outbreak in Armenia to 46, the Ministry of Healthcare reported Friday.

The Healthcare Ministry put the numbers of recoveries and hospitalizations as of Friday morning at 14 and 15 respectively.

43 patients are unvaccinated, while the three others had only one dose of the vaccine. 

Healthcare authorities recommend children get two doses of the measles vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. The Armenian healthcare ministry advised parents to get their children vaccinated if they’ve missed the immunization schedule.

At the same time, unvaccinated direct contacts of confirmed cases should also get vaccinated, healthcare authorities said.

Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. It is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.

The virus remains active and contagious in the air or on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours. It can be transmitted by an infected person from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the rash erupts.

Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications. Unvaccinated pregnant women are also at risk. Any non-immune person (who has not been vaccinated or was vaccinated but did not develop immunity) can become infected.

The first sign of measles is usually a high fever, which begins about 10 to 12 days after exposure to the virus, and lasts 4 to 7 days. A runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots inside the cheeks can develop in the initial stage. After several days, a rash erupts, usually on the face and upper neck. Over about 3 days, the rash spreads, eventually reaching the hands and feet.

 11:28,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated the transfer of another 16 patients from blockaded Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) to Armenia for treatment, the Healthcare Ministry of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) announced Friday.

Another 13 patient, along with their attendants, returned to Nagorno Karabakh after receiving treatment.

“Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia, 16 patients from the Republican Medical Center the Republic of Artsakh with serious diseases of the oncology and cardiovascular system as well as pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventions have been transported today, on March 10, to specialized medical institutions of the Republic of Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross. 13 patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with an accompanying persons. Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of the Republic of Artsakh. 2 children remain in the neonatal and intensive care unit of the Arevik medical centre. 8 patients remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Centre, 4 of them in critical condition. A total of 169 patients have been transported so far from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and support of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” reads the statement released by the Ministry of Healthcare.

 15:56,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. The highly anticipated DigiTec Summit and Expo 2022 [2023 March Edition] – the largest tech event in the region – kicked off in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan on March 10. Representatives of local and international companies, speakers, panelists, journalists, diplomats and government officials were present at the opening ceremony.

30 speakers from 9 countries, 2000 registered visitors and 120 companies are participating.

Opening remarks were made by Chairman of UATE Alexandr Yesayan, Minister of High Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan, EU Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin, Ambassador of Germany to Armenia Viktor Richter and Chairman of DigiTec Summit Raffi Kassarjian.

Digitec Summit 2022 (March 2023 Edition) will address the following topic: “Ambitious Tech: Enabling open economies to be more resilient in an increasingly unstable world” and will feature C-level execs and founders from existing and to-be unicorns from countries such as Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the US, in addition to host country Armenia.

This year’s DigiTec event is the largest in its history, according to Chairman of UATE Alexandr Yesayan.

As part of the event, summit attendees with Full Network Pass tickets have the opportunity to pitch their start-ups to one of 5 venture capitalists from around the world in the Venture Capital Speed Dating.

“We are trying to internationalize this conference,” said Raffi Kassarjian.

EU Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin said the growing IT ecosystem and science sector in Armenia is noticeable and called for promoting and supporting innovations in business processes.

United States Ambassador Kristina Kvien, Moderna co-founder Noubar Afeyan, among others, are also participating in the event.

 16:06,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. A school bus with students and teachers onboard crashed into a canyon Friday afternoon on the Kapan-Norashenik road in the Syunik Province, killing a teacher and leaving 23 persons injured.

The 53-year-old teacher died in the hospital, authorities said. 

23 persons, including 8 school employees and 15 students, are hospitalized, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Update shows information on the fatality and number of victims.

 16:31,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. Agents of the Anti-Corruption Committee raided Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Gevorg Simonyan’s office on Friday and are carrying out “investigative actions”, the Anti-Corruption Committee confirmed to ARMENPRESS.

“Agents of the Anti-Corruption Committee are carrying out investigative actions in Yerevan Deputy Mayor Gevorg Simonyan's office as part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” a spokesperson of the Anti-Corruption Committee said without elaborating.

 16:46,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. Governor of Gegharkunik Karen Sargsyan held a meeting with Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin who’s visiting the province on March 10. 

In a statement posted on social media, Sargsyan said he discussed with the ambassador the roadmap of cooperation signed between Gegharkunik and Russia’s Omsk in August 2022, which enables to cooperate in economy, education, culture, healthcare, environmental protection, tourism and other vitally important areas, which in turn will contribute to expanding economic relations.

The governor also briefed the ambassador on the consequences of the 13-14 September 2022 Azerbaijani aggression against border settlements in Gegharkunik, the current situation in these settlements and the actions for overcoming it.

 17:03,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. United States Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien discussed the economic and security situations in Vayots Dzor and Syunik with the governors of the provinces, the embassy said in a statement on Friday.

“Ambassador Kvien met with Vayots Dzor governor Ararat Grigoryan and Syunik governor Robert Ghukasyan to discuss the economic and security situations in these regions. She pledged continued U.S. support for Armenia’s sovereignty and independence,” reads the US embassy statement posted on social media.

 17:14,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. United States Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien met with the head of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) Markus Ritter to discuss the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the embassy said on Friday.

“Ambassador Kvien met with the head of the European Union Mission in Armenia Markus Ritter to discuss the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The United States strongly supports the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia,” the US embassy’s statement reads.

EUMA is a non-executive, non-armed civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Mission tasked with observing and reporting on the security situation along the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan.