At the young age of 24, Armine Galstyan, Managing Director of the Glendale-based tech accelerator Hero House, is making her mark in two traditionally male dominated fields; deep tech and venture capital. Her impact in these fields is being noticed. This past May, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal bestowed her with the ‘NextGen Women of the Year’ award during their Women’s Leadership Roundtable. The award recognizes talented women who are breaking ground and making a difference in their communities.
Galstyan grew up in a remote village in the Armavir Province of Armenia where career opportunities for young people were limited. While studying business, she learned about the world of startups, technology and entrepreneurship, and met the future founders of a deep tech venture capital fund, SmartGateVC. At the age of 19, she became one of their first hires where today, they operate in Armenia and in Glendale, CA.
In 2020, after an extensive search for a tech accelerator operator, the City of Glendale, hired SmartGateVC to launch and operate Hero House Glendale. This was part of the City’s overall Tech Strategy which seeks to position the City as a regional hub of innovation and technology. A quick visit to the Hero House webpage and you are greeted with these words, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” Words to live by for any young woman navigating Galstyan’s world where her grit, determination and passion for deep tech have certainly paid off. Armine Galstyan is an inspiration to women pursuing careers in deep tech or venture capital.
Throughout her work in the world of venture capital, she has led SmartGateVC's deep tech incubation and pre-acceleration programs, where she has worked with 100+ early-stage startups and helped entrepreneurs to raise pre-seed funding. Under Armine’s leadership, Hero House pulled off a wildly successful inaugural year in the midst of a global pandemic. The Accelerator program launched in February 2021 with 3 companies joining their first cohort; 8 international and 5 from United States, of which 4 were Glendale-based. Their 2nd cohort launched in January 2022 with 10 new companies that are currently going through the program.
A long list of startup success stories is proof that Armine’s expertise and good old fashioned hustle are paying off.
Expper Technologies: Closed a 2-million-dollar seed round and was featured among the honorees of Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design Awards in the Impact category. Their signature product, Robin The Robot, a research-based child-friendly emotional support robot, was recognized as TIME’s Best Invention of 2021 in the Robotics category.
Esper Bionics: Raised seed round and obtained FDA approval,
Embry Tech: Started partnership conversations with one of the world’s top shoe brands.
Pinsight: was recognized as the Product of the Day on ProductHunt for their Anania.ai.
Anyone can join the Hero House network through a number of networking opportunities. Hero House hosts regular mixers, networking events, panels and talks that benefit tech startups, entrepreneurs and innovators. HeroHouse Connects is a recurring community gathering and networking meet-up held every Friday, for business professionals, tech entrepreneurs, engineers and investors.
Armine Galstyan’s leadership in advancing deep tech in Glendale and around the world is an inspiration. We’re excited about the future of Hero House and for the growth of Glendale’s tech ecosystem because of her.