Apricot Capital investment company is celebrating its second anniversary and has already made it to the list of Armenia’s top taxpayers. CEO Vachik Gevorgyan discusses the company’s achievements, overcoming challenges, commitment to investor education, and future goals.

Apricot Capital is turning 2, what are you most proud of achieving in these first two years?

Apricot Capital has achieved remarkable growth in this short time. We’re proud of the positive impact we’re having on our clients, as well as on the Armenian economy. Let me elaborate.

We’ve made investing easy, convenient, and accessible to a broader public through our mobile app, online onboarding, low commissions, and educational resources. We even added a currency exchange function within our app so people can fund their brokerage accounts with whichever currency they have and be able to convert it easily without commissions and at good rates. In these two years, our platform has empowered both new and experienced investors to take control of their financial future and access a wide range of instruments in global markets. For more experienced investors, we also introduced margin trading.

Our client base has grown significantly, and more clients are joining every day. We’ve done our best to make this process as easy for them as possible. Now, people interested in investing can conveniently open a brokerage account with Apricot for free on our website. Since there is no minimum deposit requirement, they can start small and build their investment portfolio over time.

In under two years we were already no 53 in the list of Armenia’s top taxpayers. I think this reflects the increasing interest for investment among Armenians. This also prompted us to add the possibility to invest in Armenian Government bonds right from our app. We’re happy to have such a positive impact on the Armenian economy.

We've also initiated collaborations with leading Armenian universities like YSU, ASUE, and UFAR. From scholarships and expert-led masterclasses to campus renovation projects, we are investing in the education of Armenia's future professionals. Beyond this, we actively engage in corporate social responsibility initiatives through the Amaryan Charitable Foundation, co-established by our Founder, Vardan Amaryan, and his brother David Amaryan, CEO of Balchug Capital.The foundation supports a number of impactful initiatives in education, culture, and sports.

What have been the most significant challenges you've faced in building and growing the company? How did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge has been educating and building trust in a market where investment culture is still relatively new. To tackle this, we launched our Apricot Academy initiative. We regularly publish extensive educational resources like Apricot talks podcast, tutorials, an Investor's Glossary, and Q&A articles on our website and social media. We even offer a 14-day demo account with not real, demo money so people can experience investing risk-free before investing with their own money.

We understand that people new to investing need to do their research and feel confident before investing their hard-earned money, whether it's to preserve the value of their savings against inflation or to grow their capital. For the first type of investor, we offer low-risk, fixed-income instruments like government bonds or instruments that offer diversification like index-tracking ETFs. And those seeking more growth potential, can find on our platform stocks, ETFs, and more complex instruments traded in various markets.

By educating ourselves about personal finance and the possibilities of investing, we can each find the suitable investment instruments that meet our needs and goals. And we at Apricot Capital are committed to playing our role in shaping a responsible investment culture in Armenia.

What are your top priorities for Apricot Capital's future? Any new markets or services you're considering expanding into?

We're constantly innovating to meet and exceed the evolving needs and expectations of our clients. In the near future, we're focused on expanding our client base to empower even more people with investment opportunities. In this regard, we've launched our "Investment Ambassador" referral program to encourage our existing clients to invite friends and family and earn bonuses when they invest. For more advanced investors, we're expanding our offering of complex instruments like structured notes and investment funds. In general, we are expanding the range of financial instruments available through us, both in terms of their diversity and geographic coverage.

The past two years have been a remarkable chapter in Apricot Capital's story, and we're just getting started. We're confident that Apricot Capital will continue to grow, innovate, and empower individuals with tools and platforms to achieve their financial goals.