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Vigen and Vahe Badalyan are Armenian entrepreneurs whose business journey helped transform a small betting operation in Yerevan into an international iGaming technology group. Their story runs from Vivaro to BetConstruct and eventually the wider SoftConstruct ecosystem, combining B2C gambling operations with B2B technology, payments, data, and digital services.
Note: This article deliberately doesn’t repeat frequently published claims about employee numbers, valuations, or the brothers’ companies being “the world’s most significant” gambling technology companies. Claims such as these are either company-reported, outdated, difficult to independently verify, or evaluative rather than objective facts. A more defensible description is that the brothers developed a major Armenian-founded iGaming technology business and the broader SoftConstruct technology ecosystem.
Who Are Vigen and Vahe Badalyan?
Vigen and Vahe Badalyan are brothers who began their entrepreneurial activities with their father, Romik Badalyan, during the final years of the Soviet period. According to Fast Bank’s official shareholder biographies, the family became involved in businesses spanning finance, information technology, agriculture, and other sectors. Vigen was born in 1975 and graduated from Yerevan State University of Economics and Law in 1995.
Their move into gambling technology came through Vivaro, a betting business established in Armenia in 2003. The operation began with four people in a small Yerevan office. The brothers found that suitable gaming software was difficult to obtain, encouraging them to develop more of their technology internally.
That decision became an important part of the Badalyan brothers’ business model.
From Vivaro to BetConstruct
The history of Vigen and Vahe Badalyan in iGaming is closely connected to the evolution of Vivaro, the company that later became associated with the VBET brand.
Vivaro began as a land-based bookmaker before moving into online betting. Vivaro was founded in 2003, launched its first online betting website in 2006, and had approximately 300 betting shops by 2009.
Operating a betting company gave the brothers first-hand experience with sportsbook technology, odds, payments, customer management and the infrastructure required to run gambling businesses.
The next step was to turn that operational knowledge into technology that could be supplied to other operators.
BetConstruct was established in 2011 as a gaming technology business. Fast Bank’s current corporate biography for Vahe Badalyan identifies him as a founder of BetConstruct, describing the company as an Armenian technology business providing solutions to the gambling sector.
This created a significant shift in the brothers’ business model: rather than simply operating a bookmaker, they could develop and supply the underlying technology used by gambling businesses.
The Rise of SoftConstruct
The SoftConstruct story needs to be understood alongside BetConstruct rather than as an entirely separate gambling technology company.
SoftConstruct was established between 2010 and 2012, with the Badalyan brothers as founders. Fast Bank’s official biography states that the brothers founded SoftConstruct in Britain in 2012 and that its businesses included BetConstruct, Ucraft, FinConstruct and Startup.center. Other business profiles date the creation of the broader SoftConstruct structure to 2010.
The underlying development is clearer. SoftConstruct became the broader technology ecosystem around brands including BetConstruct, allowing the brothers to diversify beyond sportsbook and casino technology.
The group’s portfolio subsequently expanded into areas including sports data, website development, payments, blockchain and artificial intelligence. Fast Bank identifies Vahe Badalyan as a co-founder of SoftConstruct, FinConstruct, BetConstruct, FeedConstruct and other technology businesses.
Vigen Badalyan and BetConstruct
Vigen Badalyan became particularly associated with BetConstruct’s technology and international expansion.
BetConstruct describes Vigen as its co-founder, while industry profiles identify him as CEO and founder. His own account of the company’s history emphasises the connection between Vivaro’s experience as an operator and the subsequent creation of technology for the wider iGaming market.
BetConstruct’s technology portfolio has expanded well beyond traditional sportsbook software. Its current platform infrastructure includes sportsbook, casino, live casino, poker, virtual sports, esports, payments, CRM, affiliate systems, and other services. The company’s live infrastructure currently lists sportsbook, casino, poker, virtual sports, payments, and numerous other systems.
The significance of this development is that the Badalyan brothers moved progressively from running gambling operations to supplying gambling infrastructure.
Vahe Badalyan and the Wider Business Group
Vahe Badalyan’s role extends beyond iGaming. His business career involves finance, fuel distribution, hospitality, and technology. He established Fast Credit in 1994, later becoming involved in Fast Bank, while also founding or co-founding several technology companies.
This broader entrepreneurial activity helps explain the structure that developed around SoftConstruct.
Instead of concentrating exclusively on one gambling product, the Badalyans built businesses covering different technological requirements of the digital economy. FeedConstruct, for example, developed around sports data and related services, while Ucraft operates in website creation and FinConstruct in financial software.
The gambling technology business therefore became one part of a much wider technology strategy.
Why the Badalyan Brothers Matter to iGaming History
The importance of Vigen and Vahe Badalyan lies in the progression of their business model.
They began with a consumer-facing betting operation in Armenia. They then developed their own technology, created BetConstruct as a B2B gaming technology provider, and built a broader SoftConstruct structure containing multiple technology businesses.
That trajectory mirrors an important change in the global gambling industry. As betting moved online, technology suppliers became increasingly important. Sportsbooks, online casinos and other operators required platforms, payments, data feeds, risk management, mobile systems, casino content and customer-management technology.
The Badalyans positioned their businesses across several of those technological layers.
An American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia publication described SoftConstruct’s development as beginning with the Badalyan brothers’ Armenian technology venture and subsequently expanding into a multinational operation with numerous brands, offices and employees.
From Armenian Startup to International iGaming Technology
The story of Vigen and Vahe Badalyan is ultimately less about a single gambling company than about vertical integration.
Vivaro gave the brothers experience on the operator side. BetConstruct transformed that experience into technology for other gambling businesses. SoftConstruct then provided a broader corporate framework for additional technology ventures.
The result was an Armenian-founded business ecosystem with international operations and products serving multiple parts of the digital gambling and technology industries.
For gambling history, their story is particularly relevant because it demonstrates how the modern iGaming industry created opportunities not only for bookmakers and casino operators, but also for the technology companies supplying the infrastructure behind them.
Conclusion
Vigen and Vahe Badalyan built their iGaming career through a progression from Vivaro’s Armenian betting operation to BetConstruct and the wider SoftConstruct technology ecosystem.
Their businesses illustrate the evolution of online gambling from traditional betting operations toward sophisticated technology platforms, data services, payments, and digital infrastructure.
Rather than representing two unrelated gambling technology companies, BetConstruct and SoftConstruct are best understood as interconnected stages and components of the broader business ecosystem developed by the Badalyan brothers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Vigen and Vahe Badalyan?
Vigen and Vahe Badalyan are Armenian entrepreneurs involved in gambling, technology, finance, and other businesses. They founded the Vivaro betting operation in 2003 and subsequently became associated with BetConstruct and SoftConstruct. Their businesses expanded from consumer-facing betting into B2B iGaming technology and a broader technology ecosystem.
What are Vigen and Vahe Badalyan known for?
The brothers are primarily known in the iGaming industry for their involvement in Vivaro, BetConstruct, and SoftConstruct. BetConstruct developed into a provider of sportsbook, casino, and other gaming technology, while SoftConstruct became the broader group encompassing multiple technology brands.
Who founded BetConstruct?
Vigen and Vahe Badalyan are identified as founders or co-founders of BetConstruct. Fast Bank’s official biography of Vahe Badalyan states that he established BetConstruct in 2011, while Vigen has described its development as growing from the brothers’ earlier Vivaro betting business.
When did Vigen and Vahe Badalyan start in gambling?
Their best-documented entry into gambling came in 2003, when they established Vivaro in Armenia. The business began as a bookmaker and subsequently developed an online betting operation. A WIPO decision records its first online betting website in 2006 and approximately 300 betting shops by 2009.
What is BetConstruct?
BetConstruct is an iGaming technology provider associated with the SoftConstruct group. Its technology offering includes sportsbook, casino, live casino, poker, virtual sports, and other gaming and operational services. Its origins are connected to the Badalyan brothers’ experience operating Vivaro.
What is SoftConstruct?
SoftConstruct is the wider technology group associated with the Badalyan brothers. Its businesses and brands have included BetConstruct, FeedConstruct, Ucraft and FinConstruct, among others. Sources differ on the precise year used for its establishment because corporate histories describe different stages of its formation and consolidation.
Are BetConstruct and SoftConstruct the same company?
They are closely connected but should not simply be treated as identical names. BetConstruct is an iGaming technology brand/business, while SoftConstruct represents the broader technology group and ecosystem around BetConstruct and other ventures. The corporate structure has evolved over time.
What was Vivaro?
Vivaro was the Badalyan brothers’ original betting business, founded in Armenia in 2003. It began as a land-based bookmaker and later developed online betting operations. The business subsequently became associated with the VBET brand and remained an important part of the brothers’ route into international iGaming.
How did the Badalyan brothers become iGaming entrepreneurs?
Their path began with operating a betting business and confronting the practical technology requirements of running it. Vigen Badalyan has explained that the limited availability of suitable gaming software encouraged the business to develop technology internally. That experience contributed to the later creation of BetConstruct as a B2B technology provider.
What other businesses are associated with the Badalyan brothers?
Beyond gambling technology, the brothers have been associated with finance, hospitality, agriculture, website development, sports data, payments, and blockchain-related businesses. Fast Bank’s official biographies identify companies and brands including Fast Credit, FinConstruct, FeedConstruct, Ucraft and Fast Shift among their wider business interests.
Where are Vigen and Vahe Badalyan from?
The Badalyan brothers are Armenian entrepreneurs whose business activities have strong roots in Armenia. Vigen Badalyan was born in Jermuk and studied at Yerevan State University of Economics and Law. Their early gambling and technology businesses were developed in Armenia before expanding internationally.
Reference List:
Fast Bank. (2026, May 8). Shareholders. Fast Bank. Fast Bank shareholder information Fast Bank
Fast Bank. (2026). Management. Fast Bank. Fast Bank management information. Fast Bank
Gaming International Online. (2019, October 31). Getting to know: Vigen Badalyan. Gaming International Online. Gaming International Online
Hetq. (2025). Vigen Badalyan’s Turkish “Gambit”. Hetq. Hetq.am
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. (2020). WIPO domain name decision: DMX2020-0022. World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO decision WIPO
SoftConstruct. (2026). SoftConstruct. SoftConstruct official website. SoftConstruct
BetConstruct. (2026). BetConstruct. BetConstruct official website
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