Objectives

General objectives

The overall objective of this assignment is to strengthen the competence, professionalism, operational effectiveness, and international connectivity of business angels in Armenia through advanced, practice-oriented, and internationally benchmarked training programmes. The programme is expected to enhance participants’ ability to identify, evaluate, structure, and manage early-stage startup investments while also contributing to the broader development of innovation financing ecosystems within the region. This will be pursued through targeted international training expertise across the following strategic directions:

●      Advanced Investment Education – delivering internationally benchmarked training on startup valuation, due diligence, deal structuring, syndication, and portfolio management for both aspiring and experienced business angels.

●      Experiential and Simulation-Based Learning – anchoring the programme in anonymized deal rooms, real case studies, term sheet negotiation simulations, live founder pitch evaluations, and mock investment committees that replicate genuine venture capital workflows.

●      Syndication and Co-Investment Development – introducing collaborative investment mechanisms, syndicate management approaches, and cross-border co-investment practices to share risks and expand deal capacity.

●      Local Co-Delivery and Capacity Transfer – working alongside with the selected business angel network to contextualise the programme to the Armenian ecosystem and build sustainable local training capacity.

●      Monitoring, Evaluation and Replicability – designing a joint monitoring and evaluation framework and a replicable training model capable of being adapted, repeated, and scaled across the Eastern Partnership region.

●      International Ecosystem Connectivity – connecting Armenian investors with international angel investment networks and standards, and strengthening cooperation between investors, founders, accelerators, venture capital funds, and public innovation stakeholders.

Specific objectives

●      Expand the Local Investor Base: Increase the number of active and competent angel investors in Armenia by equipping participants with practical knowledge, analytical capabilities, and confidence.

●      Deepen Financial Sophistication: Improve understanding of startup investing, valuation, due diligence, and portfolio management through real investment case studies and internationally recognized methodologies.

●      Enhance Decision-Making: Strengthen practical investment decision-making capabilities through realistic simulations, startup pitch evaluations, and mock investment committees.

●      Foster Collaboration: Promote syndication and co-investment practices by introducing collaborative investment mechanisms and syndicate management approaches to share risks.

●      Align with Global Standards: Introduce international best practices in early-stage investing aligned with globally recognized angel investment standards.

●      Build Replicable Infrastructure: Create a training and monitoring model for future programme iterations capable of being adapted, repeated, and scaled across the Eastern Partnership region.

●      Improve Investor Confidence: Provide practical tools for startup assessment, governance, and portfolio diversification to encourage early-stage technology investments.

Description of the assignment

Planned activities

The selected international expert will work in close collaboration with the EU4Innovation East project team and with the selected business angel network to implement the following activities aimed at strengthening the competence and international connectivity of business angels in Armenia.

Module 1 – Introductory Business Angel Training (Yerevan)

Module 1 targets aspiring (“newbie”) business angels and runs as a single, intensive week in Yerevan: 4–5 sessions across 4 core days, with an optional fifth day for a closing workshop, certificate ceremony, or networking session. Sessions 1–3 (Days 1–2) are delivered with the selected business angel network’s own trainers, investors, and portfolio founders; the international expert delivers the advanced Sessions 4–5 (Days 3–4).

Purpose and expected outcome: Module 1 responds to a specific gap: many individuals in Armenia with the capital and interest to invest in startups lack the practical knowledge to do so with confidence, and without structured training they either remain on the sidelines or make poorly informed decisions limiting the flow of early-stage financing into the ecosystem. The module is designed to convert this untapped potential into a larger base of competent, active angel investors. Participants are expected to leave with the analytical tools, decision-making frameworks, and confidence to make their first informed angel investments.

Format and one-week flow: Module 1 runs as a single, intensive week in Yerevan, with 4–5 sessions across 4 core days and an optional fifth day for a closing workshop. This structure was set deliberately to fit working participants’ schedules while keeping momentum across the week. Day 1 (Monday) opens with Welcome & Foundations, delivered by the selected business angel network team. Day 2 (Tuesday) features a Q&A with an experienced angel plus a startup office visit, also run by the local team. Day 3 (Wednesday) is Advanced Practice Module I and Day 4 (Thursday) is Advanced Practice Module II, both delivered by the International Expert. Day 5 (Friday) is optional and can be used for a practical wrap-up exercise, certificate ceremony, or buffer/networking session run by the local team, depending on cohort feedback after Day 4.

The selected business angel network is to confirm the preferred window at least 4 weeks in advance, allowing the international expert’s travel booking and the cohort selection process to close in time.

The expert shall:

●      Deliver in person the advanced, internationally benchmarked practice Sessions 4–5 (Days 3–4) during the confirmed training week: 28 September – 2 October 2026 (Option A) or 5 – 9 October 2026 (Option B), to be confirmed by the selected business angel network at least 4 weeks in advance.

●      Incorporate the mandatory experiential learning elements throughout the delivered sessions, including anonymized deal rooms and real case studies; simulated workflows such as term sheet negotiation simulations, startup valuation exercises, capitalization table modeling, and due diligence sandbox reviews; and interactive testing loops such as live founder pitch evaluations, mock investment committee simulations, and collective syndicate-building exercises.

●      Provide individualized support frameworks, including pre-training profiling questionnaires, tailored investment pathway recommendations, one-to-one coaching clinics during training days, and structured small-group mentoring loops.

●      Produce and deliver all pedagogical materials, slides, templates, and case studies for the sessions the expert personally delivers, and coordinate final agendas with the selected business angel network to ensure continuity with the locally delivered foundational sessions.

Module 2 – Experienced Business Angels Off-Site Retreat

Module 2 targets experienced business angels and is delivered as a focused two-day off-site retreat in October 2026, following the close of Module 1. The concentrated, high-interaction format reflects feedback that experienced angels engage better in a setting away from day-to-day distractions, and that two well-structured days are sufficient to cover the planned advanced topics in depth.

Purpose and expected outcome: Module 2 addresses the gap at the top of the market: Armenia’s existing angels largely operate individually, with limited exposure to syndication, structured portfolio management, and cross-border deal-making which caps both the size of deals the ecosystem can absorb and the sophistication of its investment practice. The retreat is designed to move experienced investors from ad-hoc individual investing toward professional, collaborative, and internationally connected practice. The expected outcome is a more sophisticated cohort of practicing angels equipped to syndicate deals, manage portfolios strategically, and participate in cross-border investments raising the overall quality and capacity of Armenia’s early-stage investment market.

Format: Day 1 off-site, delivered by the International Expert, covers Advanced Portfolio Strategy, Advanced Deal Structuring & Syndication, and Advanced Due Diligence. Day 2 off-site, also delivered by the International Expert, covers Cross-Border Angel Investing, Lessons from the Field (mistakes and long-term success), and the Live Deal Workshop.

The expert shall:

●      Design and deliver Day 1 of the retreat, covering advanced portfolio strategy, advanced deal structuring and syndication, and advanced due diligence, drawing on the selected business angel network members’ own investment track record and advanced local practice.

●      Design and deliver Day 2 of the retreat, covering cross-border angel investing, lessons from the field (common mistakes and long-term success factors), and a live deal workshop.

●      Produce all pedagogical materials for the internationally delivered retreat sessions, applying the same mandatory experiential learning elements as in Module 1.

Operating Model: Division of Responsibilities

To be handled by the selected business angel network:

−      Participant selection for both modules, including management of the full applications-to-cohort process: the call for applications, eligibility screening, interviews where needed, and final cohort confirmation. EU4Innovation East will review the final list for alignment with target-profile criteria.

−      Marketing and participant sourcing, using its existing investor and founder pipelines.

−      Module 1, Sessions 1–3 (Days 1–2) are delivered by the selected business angel network’s own team, investors, and portfolio founders, drawing on its trainers and network.

To be delivered by the international expert:

−      Module 1, Sessions 4–5 (Days 3–4), consisting of advanced, internationally benchmarked content;

−      Module 2, Day 1, covering advanced local practice portfolio strategy, deal structuring, and syndication drawing on the selected business angel network members’ own track record.

−      Module 2, Day 2 covering cross-border investing and the live deal workshop.

The International Expert produces the pedagogical materials slides, templates, and case studies for the sessions they personally deliver.

To be shared:

Venue, catering, and on-site logistics will be shared between the selected business angel network (Module 1) and EU4Innovation East (Module 2).

Monitoring and evaluation will be owned by a joint team of specialists selected by both parties. With the selected business angel network and the international expert jointly design and run the feedback and knowledge-tracking instruments. Final reporting and the sustainability roadmap are likewise joint: the international expert drafts, and the selected business angel network and EU4Innovation East validate.

Programme Design, Localisation, and Inception

This activity aims to ensure that a complete, ready-to-deliver training programme covering Module 1- (Sessions 4–5) and Module 2 - is fully designed, localised to the Armenian context, and formally approved before delivery commences. The complete programme must be submitted by applicants as an integral part of their technical proposal; proposals that do not include a complete programme design shall be deemed non-compliant. No aspect of the core programme design may be deferred to the post-award phase.

Proposals offering to develop the programme after contract award, or failing to present a fully substantiated training design, shall be disqualified.

Following contract award, the selected Contractor shall resubmit the complete programme documentation as part of the Inception Report and undertake a structured localisation process with selected business angel network specialists. The final programme inclusive of all module designs, session sequencing, learning frameworks, and participant materials shall be agreed between the Contractor and the selected business angel network following the localisation consultations and prior to commencement of delivery. EU4Innovation East and Expertise France retain the right to review and formally approve the final programme before any delivery commences; approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, but the Programme reserves the right to require revisions where the submitted design does not meet the quality standards or objectives set out in these Terms of Reference.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, and Sustainability

A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework runs throughout both modules, owned jointly by the selected business angel network team and the international expert through a team of specialists selected by both parties, ensuring continuity from Module 1 selection data through to Module 2 outcomes. Continuous M&E support is essential for demonstrating programme impact and informing future iterations, and this framework is treated as a required deliverable, not an optional add-on.

The expert shall:

●      Jointly design and administer the M&E instruments: pre-training profiling and baseline assessments (built into the local selection process), daily feedback forms covering locally led and internationally led sessions equally, a final evaluation survey, and a pre/post-knowledge diagnostic mapped to the delivered session content.

●      Ensure delivery against the minimum performance indicators: participant satisfaction of at least 4.0/5.0 (final module evaluation surveys), knowledge transference of at least 25% improvement (pre/post diagnostic analysis), cohort attendance of at least 85% (daily attendance records), knowledge application intent of at least 80% (final evaluation forms), and 100% on-time submission of deliverables (project management log).

●      Draft, within 15 calendar days of each module, the Final Training Report (execution summary and cohort dynamics) and the M&E synthesis (statistical report from daily, final, and pre/post data), for validation by the selected business angel network and EU4Innovation East.

●      Prepare a Strategic Roadmap with recommendations for the next cohort, alumni engagement, and adjustments to the local/international delivery split for future programme iterations.

●      Deliver, upon completion of each module and in any event prior to final payment, a complete and editable source archive of all Programme Materials in the formats reasonably requested by EU4Innovation East or Expertise France. All training materials, curricula, methodological frameworks, assessment instruments, case studies, templates, slides, and workbooks created or adapted under this assignment vest in the EU4Innovation East Programme, implemented by Expertise France, on a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, and perpetual basis; the expert’s pre-existing intellectual property remains the expert’s property, subject to a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence to the Programme to the extent necessary to exercise the full benefit of the Programme Materials.

Anticipated deliverables

Deliverables are organized across three phases:

Pre-training deliverables comprise the confirmed cohort list and selection summary (selected  business angel network); final agendas naming all confirmed local and international speakers (joint); the Inception Report and Needs Assessment Summary, detailing customized pedagogy, timelines, coordination mechanisms, and participant profiling results (Contractor, with local input); final curricula, granular session agendas, and speaker profiles for all internationally delivered sessions (Contractor); participant learning assets, including professional workbooks, presentation slides, case studies, financial modelling frameworks, and due diligence templates (Contractor); and the final baseline assessment and diagnostic survey instruments (joint team).

During delivery, the requirements are in-person facilitation of all sessions per the agreed agendas, daily feedback forms collected for every session locally led and internationally led alike and attendance records maintained by the selected business angel network.

Post-training, within 15 calendar days of each module, the deliverables are the Final Training Report covering execution summary and cohort dynamics (drafted by the International Expert, validated jointly); the M&E synthesis, a statistical report from the daily, final, and pre/post data (joint team); the Strategic Roadmap with recommendations for the next cohort, alumni engagement, and adjustments to the local/international delivery split; and the editable source archive of all training materials used.

Place, duration and terms of performance

●      Implementation period: September – November 2026 (with international expert selection and onboarding in July – August 2026)

●      Training format: in-person; training language: English

●      Target groups: aspiring business angels (Module 1) and experienced business angels (Module 2); participant selection, marketing, and cohort confirmation are managed by the selected business angel network, with EU4Innovation East reviewing the final lists for alignment with target-profile criteria

●      Intellectual property: all training materials, curricula, methodological frameworks, assessment instruments, case studies, templates, slides, workbooks, and other pedagogical outputs created or adapted under this assignment (the “Programme Materials”) vest immediately and irrevocably in the EU4Innovation East Programme, implemented by Expertise France, on a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, and perpetual basis. The Programme and Expertise France may use, reproduce, adapt, translate, publish, and deliver the Programme Materials for future training cohorts, alumni programmes, and regional replication across the Eastern Partnership without further consent from, or payment to, the Contractor. The Contractor warrants that the Programme Materials do not infringe third-party rights, delivers a complete editable source archive prior to final payment, and retains its pre-existing intellectual property subject to a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence to the Programme

●      Schedule/program: