Karen Nikoghosyan Is Building AI Operating Layers for Multichannel Commerce
Karen's career began in Armenia's IT services sector, where he showed early promise. By the age of 23, he was CTO of GTech Solutions, overseeing software delivery for its international clients. In this role, he saw firsthand how companies struggled with fragmented systems for orders, inventory, shipping and reporting. In 2016, he founded Ghost Services in Gyumri, building an agency capable of delivering end-to-end products for clients worldwide. Its work has spanned e-commerce, healthcare, logistics and biopharma software. The company has served more 80 clients and was ranked #16 on the Clutch 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list in 2024.
In 2019, Nikoghosyan launched eSwap, initially as a multichannel inventory management tool. The platform connects marketplaces and web stores through a single dashboard, providing sellers with a unified view of sales, profits, returns, orders and stock. eSwap later expanded into order management, shipping, accounting, invoicing and analytics, integrating channels including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Etsy and Wayfair.
In late 2024, eSwap achieved another milestone when it launched an AI suite with three core capabilities: demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and predictive restocking.
"The aim was to turn eSwap into an intelligent command center," says Karen, "where inventory, pricing and fulfillment decisions increasingly happen autonomously." Its forecasting system uses sales history, seasonal trends and marketplace activity to recommend reorders and warehouse allocation, helping sellers avoid excess stock and shortages.
Karen sees this expansion as aligned with eSwap's long-term ambition: for agent-based AI to become the operating layer for multichannel commerce, with sellers supervising rather than manually operating their businesses. "If you are using AI for operations, you can just replace your department with one AI tool," he says.
Investing in local talent
His investment in education is equally important. While scaling Ghost Services, Karen faced a shortage of trained developers in Gyumri. Rather than relocate or rely entirely on remote hiring, he founded Techno-Educational Academy in 2017 to create a local talent pipeline. More than 4,000 students have graduated, and alumni have gone on to found more than 15 IT companies in the city. "That's the stat I'm proudest of," he says.
Building global technology companies from Gyumri, far from a major tech hub, continues to shape his operating philosophy. Clients have been won through results rather than proximity or networks, reinforcing an emphasis on measurable outcomes, specialization and long-term relationships. "I measure my work by what my clients and students go on to build," he says
Today, Nikoghosyan is based between the US business operation and Armenian engineering team, leading eSwap's product strategy, AI roadmap, business development and commercial operations while continuing to run Ghost Services and the academy. His next goal is to deepen eSwap's AI capabilities, expand its US presence and to make retail AI accessible to small and midsize sellers. "My underlying principle has remained consistent," he says. "I am here to build systems that outlast my involvement."