March the 1st, 2023 - The Croatian company Infobip has been presenting its brand new technological solution, Call Link, at the largest technology fair - MWC Barcelona.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the remarkable Croatian company Infobip, the world's most well-connected cloud communication platform, has launched a new and innovative video calling customer support technology to enable businesses to resolve their queries faster and reduce waiting times. This brand new solution, called Call Link, was presented at the largest mobile technology fair MWC in Barcelona.

Infobip's Call Link is designed for the needs of companies with a large number of customer inquiries, such as telecommunications and utility companies, as well as electronic equipment manufacturers, and is the simplest way for agents to establish live voice or video calls with their customers.

When customer experience is critical to business success, companies need to quickly and efficiently resolve their customers' queries. According to the results of a survey conducted by CRM platform HubSpot, 90 percent of users believe that a response time of 10 minutes or less is extremely important when they have an inquiry. However, companies often fail to meet customer expectations and multiply their calls to several different agents, which increases the waiting time. Call Link eliminates all of these problems.

Using a simple web link, customer service or technical service agents can automatically transfer written chat inquiries to voice or video calls. The Call Link solution generates a unique link, thanks to which the user doesn't have to install additional applications, which then improves their overall experience.

Call Link, which is already available to interested companies, removes the need for lengthy interactions between agents and customers, allowing companies to connect with their customers anywhere, anytime. Agents can share the link through any available channel, including WhatsApp, SMS and email, either via computer or mobile. With users increasingly using apps like WhatsApp, this new solution reflects the Croatian company Infobip's broader strategy to help businesses connect with their customers through the channels they want, at the time(s) they want.

Infobip's new tech offers several applications for businesses that want to improve their overall customer experience, increase retention and reduce their operating costs. In addition, it enables real-time status determination, where users can explain their queries via video call and customer support agents can fix those highlighted problems instantly. Such remote support reduces overall costs and the environmental impact of in-person visits to the user.

"Thanks to the Call Link solution, agents of companies that want to improve the experience of their users can very quickly and efficiently eliminate difficulties and solve problems, and at the same time shorten waiting times, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. In addition, since with the aforementioned solution they can generate as many video links as necessary, companies can smoothly increase their capacities and meet customer demand even during the busiest hours without difficulty. Based on information from clients who already use our product, we know that such synchronised communication helps them to process more user inquiries in a shorter time and thus not only increase productivity, but also achieve close communication with their end users, during which they will satisfy their needs in a practical and unobtrusive way,'' said Adrian Benic, Infobip's Chief Product Officer.

“Furthermore, Call Link provides businesses of various industries and sizes with affordable voice and video support that they wouldn't otherwise be able to use given the infrastructure requirements. This product is a testament to the Croatian company Infobip's unwavering commitment to being a complete multi-channel communication platform for everyone,'' concluded Benic.

For more, check out our dedicated news section.

February the 28th, 2023 - The Croatian AD Plastik company hasn't been immune to ongoing geopolitical issues causing havoc for the economy, and while figures of 826 million kuna for 2022 sound encouraging, it's a big step down when compared to 2021.

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to all announcements, the crisis with the shortage of semiconductors is gradually coming to an end and it is expected that it should end by the end of this year, at least according to Marinko Dosen, the CEO of the Croatian AD Plastik company. Issues following sanctions against Russia owing to their horrific invasion of neighbouring Ukraine have caused issues for just about every company, and AD Plastik hasn't been immune.

The group's operating income fell by 26.6% compared to 2021, to 826 million kuna. Normalised EBITDA amounted to 0.94 million kuna and was also lower by a staggering 99.3%, and with the adjustment values included, the net loss at the group level amounts to almost 80 million kuna in total.

The Croatian AD Plastik company's problems go hand in hand with current geopolitical ones and war in Europe. It has two factories in Russia, which stopped production after their main customers left Russia after the beginning of the aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. In the meantime, production did manage to be established in one of them, but with very significantly reduced capacities.

Back in pandemic-dominated 2021, which wasn't either for most business either, 27% of a grand total of 1.23 billion kuna in revenue was generated in Russia, while in 2022, that share fell to around 14%, with revenue on the EU and Serbian markets falling to 14%, and in Russia - by 61%. The Croatian AD Plastik company therefore focused almost entirely on the European market, and 205 million euros worth of work was contracted in 2022, mostly for Stellantis, with the start of serial production for most of the contracts set for 2024.

The positive thing for the Croatian AD Plastik company's report is the associated company EAPS from nearby Romania, in which it holds 50 percent ownership, and which, thanks to the business it contracted with Dacia Duster, achieved an increase in revenue of 35% (standing at 725 million kuna) and profits of 150% (76 million kuna).

For more, check out our dedicated business section.

February the 28th, 2023 - Not everything is as bleak as it might seem at first glance. Did you know that Croatian ICT companies are attracting more and more attention from large international funds?

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the analysis published in Delo, neighbouring Slovenia is quite considerably lagging behind others in development, especially in the ICT sector, while Croatia has achieved great results and Ljubljana could learn a lot from it.

Last year, venture capital investments in Slovenia amounted to ''just'' 160 million, the lowest of all EU member states. From 2012 to 2021, all of them except Slovenia experienced growth in venture capital investment, and in that period Estonia, Finland and Denmark experienced the greatest boom of all at the EU level. In terms of the value of the share of venture capital investment in GDP, Slovenia is in a very unimpressive last place, according to an analysis of the ICT sector conducted for the Ljubljana Technology Forum by Grant Thornton.

The importance of this form of investment is extremely important for encouraging the rapid development of companies that have an innovative and promising product or technology, and that have difficulty getting capital to pass that most uncertain phase. Among all the newer EU member states, Estonia has become the most interesting country for venture capital investments in technology projects, and it ranks first in the entire EU in terms of the share of these investments in its GDP.

Last year, there were 1.3 billion euros of venture capital investments in start-up companies based in Estonia, and a total of 3.1 billion euros in the last five years. In the Czech Republic, the value of these investments in the five-year period stood at an impressive 1.5 billion, and when it comes to Croatian ICT companies and those from Lithuania, investments came to more than one billion euros, the same amount as in nearby Greece.

The Slovenians single out the Estonian example as the most successful of all, because immediately after the fall of communism, that country reached for the simplification and digitisation of its often complex administrative procedures, as well as a much more simple tax system with one rate, and they were the first to open the door to digital nomads, who can request a digital identity card and access e-services, and they've already attracted more than 50 thousand of them.

Croatian ICT companies and this country's business ecosystem has been on the radar of international venture capital funds and other financial giants for some time now, even if the headlines might make one easily believe otherwisw. The latest case of Damir Sabol's incredible Photomath being taken over by Google is just one fantastic example of how much the Croatian venture capital market has grown in the past decade.

At the same time, the neighbouring Slovenians state that a considerable number of Croatian ICT companies moved their headquarters abroad after receiving money from venture capital funds, but many, such as Rimac Automobil and Infobip, have remained firmly in Croatia. Among the advantages in the development of the startup system here in Croatia, there is, for example, the exemption from paying capital gains tax when selling shares in a startup and tax relief for angel investors, and a positive effect is also expected from a fund of 50 million euros to support innovations and startups announced by the Croatian Government.

Another significant thorn in the side of Slovenia is the fact that the share of expenditure on research and development has fallen sharply from 2012 to 2021, from 2.6 to 2.1 percent, while across the rest of the EU it has increased from 2.1 to 2. 3 percent. Slovenia also lags behind in patenting and the share of high-tech industries in its GDP. Part of the blame for this lies with privatisation, because in most former socialist countries, private foreign companies entered into industrial companies and brought new energy with them.

On the other hand, the justification that high salary taxes are the reason for avoiding venture capital investments is refuted by statistics, because for example France and Belgium, which have very high wage taxation rates, are more attractive for venture capital investments than the new EU member states from across Central and Eastern Europe, with the exception of Estonia.

Slovenia, on the other hand, looks at the Estonian example as a confirmation that the country's potential for innovation and its commercialisation can definitely be developed, but with the condition that all governments adhere to that same approach and consistently implement digitalisation, and they see Croatia and Greece as countries that are successfully following the Estonian model.

For more, make sure to check out our business section.

February the 23rd, 2023 - The Croatian Kanaan company has secured an agreement with no less than Costco, the second largest retail chain on the planet which pulls in eye-watering figures as revenue each year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, snacks made by the Croatian Kanaan company from Donji Miholjac, one of the best European producers of quality snacks, will now also be found on the shelves of Costco, the second largest retail chain in the world, which generates enormous revenues of 227 billion US dollars a year.

The above information was confirmed for Lider by Zvonko Popovic, the so-called "Croatian king of crisps" and the owner and director of the Croatian Kanaan company, which holds the title of one of the best European producers of top quality snacks.

Popovic said that it is a great honour for his company to have entered Costco's stores. He also revealed that they currently have orders for Mexico, and by the end of the year they will make sales for the USA, South Korea, Australia and even for New Zealand.

Due to the current crisis and ongoing spiralling inflation, the Croatian Kanaan company has faced numerous challenges, from rising costs, disruptions in supply chains, the security of their energy procurement, issues with the procurement of packaging, and reduced quantity and quality of some basic raw materials due to bad climatic conditions.

"Unfortunately, the prices are much higher than they were in earlier periods. We're hoping for more stable conditions this year and for us to be able to maintain our prices,'' said Popovic for Lider.

Back in 2021, the Croatian Kanaan company generated impressive revenues in the amount of 22.65 million euros, and in 2022, their revenues grew by about 20 percent compared to the previous year, to an encouraging 27 million euros. More than half of their sales are exported to the markets of neighbouring Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, and then to customers in France, Lithuania and Denmark. In total, they sold around 8,000 tonnes of various products in 2022, and their goal is to be close to that amount in 2023 as well.

Popovic revealed to Lider that in the future, they want to expand into higher category products, such as protein-added snacks and vegetable crisps, and maintain the quality of the their basic products; flips with peanuts, popcorn and crisps.

For more, make sure to follow our dedicated business section.

February the 21st, 2023 - The Virovitica IT company Factory is introducing totally free IT education once again, and anyone who wants to bump up their level of knowledge about certain aspects of IT can apply.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, the Virovitica IT company Factory is launching the fourth programme of free education for IT so far. This time, participants will learn about backend development, and the entire programme is being conducted online, a statement from the company says.

As stated above, the programme is aimed at quite literally anyone who wants to upgrade their knowledge of backend development can apply to the Factory Academy to learn more. As the Virovitica IT company Factory has stated, all would-be participants need is motivation, a computer and a stable Internet connection. It's worth noting that this company is actually the only IT company in all of the Republic of Croatia that has the status of a strategic Pimcore partner.

The educational programme lasts for four weeks, and will be attended by four selected candidates who will have the support of a mentor the whole time. The number of participants, who can apply until March the 5th, 2023, is limited so that the mentors can provide them with the highest quality support, they explained.

"Over the years, we've come to realise that there are a lot of people who have reached a certain level of knowledge in the field of development and have as such found themselves facing a wall of sorts because they still don't have enough knowledge to get a job in the field. Through our academy, they will receive not only support, but proper direction,'' Marko Cuckovic from Factory pointed out.

Cuckovic also added that the company is very much open to hiring the best candidates as employees, and it's worth noting that the Virovitica IT company Factory has held three such academies in the past, and the average rating they received is a very impressive 4.9 out of 5.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

February the 20th, 2023 - The Croatian company DOK-ING has sent two robots to Ukraine's aid, seeing them handed over to the representatives of the Ukrainian State Administration for Emergency Sisutations by Marijo Grgurinovic, DOK-ING's main man.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the handover of two out of a total of eight robotic systems designed for humanitarian demining to war-torn Ukraine took place at the headquarters of the Croatian company DOK-ING company a few days ago. The president of the DOK-ING Management Board, Marijo Grgurinovic, personally partook in the exchange.

As explained in the company's press release, the robots were donated by an American donor, and senior representatives of the Directorate of Civil Protection and the Centre for Testing, Development and Training (CTRO) also took part in the handover to Ukrainian officials.

Neven Karas, coordinator for civil protection affairs of the Directorate of Civil Protection, pointed out that, unfortunately, the Republic of Croatia has had to endure a similar experience as what Ukraine is currently going through, but thanks to it, the country gained rich experience in mine action.

"As Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic pointed out at the last meeting with President Zelenski, an agreement on cooperation in the field of mine action between Ukraine and Croatia will be concluded, and one of the most important segments of this cooperation and assistance is precisely the delivery of our equipment and machines for humanitarian action. We've repeatedly pointed out that we have rich experience, we have knowledge and we have all of the proper resources,'' added Karas.

Marijo Grgurinovic stated that he is glad that the Croatian company DOK-ING has had trust placed in it and has once again been recognised as the world leader in demining robots, where it holds 80% of the global market.

"DOK-ING has sold its machines in about 40 countries around the world, and while we have world fame and attention, we're glad when we're visited in Zitnjak, where the very development and production of our robots takes place, where you can essentially see and feel the lifeblood of our innovation laboratory, and which is backed by top engineering experts", said Grgurinovic.

Alina Kozlova, a representative of SESU Ukraine, added that these robotic machines really do work to save human lives thanks to their remote controls and many multi-functionalities.

As a reminder, the Croatian company DOK-ING's robotic systems are used all over the world by armies, civil protection units, members of police forces, commercial operators and international non-governmental organisations in all kinds of demining operations.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

February the 16th, 2023 - The Croatian Infinum company has opened a brand new office in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam as part of their wider expansion plans.

As Josipa Ban/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Infinum company has opened an office in Amsterdam, and in total, it is the seventh office in six countries of this domestic company that deals with software design and development. This is part of their strategy to get closer to their wnd customers, which is reflected in the opening of offices in strategic locations, as explained by Infinum.

They decided to open an office in the Netherlands, namely in Amsterdam, because this Benelux country is considered one of the strongest European technology centres of all.

In the top three markets

"The Netherlands is in the top three digitised countries in the European Union (EU) according to the European Commission's estimate for the year 2022. The companies operating there have a high level of digital literacy and recognise the value of digital products for business development regardless of the type of activity," explains Goran Kovacevic, the vice president for the dusiness Development of Infinum.

He also added that they aren't starting from scratch in the Netherlands because they already have clients there with whom they have been cooperating for a long time now, such as Philips and Signify. He also noted that they aren' limited to certain sectors in any market.

Martijn Spek, an experienced manager with more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry, will be responsible for business success over in Amsterdam. He comes to this position with the Croatian Infinum company from the IT company DevOn, where he worked as a commercial director for three years.

"Infinum was founded 18 years ago, this is the company's seventh location, but we're starting something new on the local market. In my experience, in this market it's really important to put your words into action, i.e. always deliver what you promise. Infinum has shown an enviable quality of work so far, and we can offer our Dutch clients additional value", emphasised Spek, who has a very responsible role because he is in charge of positioning the Croatian Infinum company well on the Dutch market.

The markets of Western Europe are their main focus, and Kovacevic pointed out that they include the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. "Last year, the United Kingdom also joined these markets, where we achieved very good results and we're continuing in that direction. Of course, there are also countries outside of Europe like the USA, which maintains stability and continuous growth", says the vice president for business development of Infinum. Before this office in Amsterdam, the last office that the Zagreb IT company opened was the one in the British capital of London back at the end of 2021. Kovacevic explained that it was opened due to an increase in the volume of work on the British market.

"We wanted to be available to our existing clients in the United Kingdom. This live contact means a lot to clients, when they can talk about work over coffee or lunch, and not via Zoom. The opening certainly resulted in new clients and contributed to the growth of that market. The motivation for opening an office in Amsterdam came partly because of the successful results we achieved in London. We want to create a similar setup in Amsterdam,'' Kovacevic stated.

Their team exceeded 400 people

The opening of that office certainly had an impact on last year's business results, as the Croatian Infinum company's revenues were 24 percent higher than they were back in 2021 and they achieved consolidated revenues of an impressive 23 million euros. Their number of employees and external associates at the same time exceeded 400 people.

The new office, along with those in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Skopje, Podgorica, New York and London, should contribute to the IT company's ambitions to achieve organic growth of 20 percent this year. Kovacevic stated that the special focus will be on expansion, and the opening of an office in Amsterdam is an important part of that strategy.

For more, check out our business section.

February the 16th, 2023 - The Slovenian VC fund Silicon Gardens has its eye on Croatian startups, and Split Tech City has entered into an agreement with them.

As Josipa Ban/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Split Tech City, the first association of the Split technology community, has entered into an agreement with the Slovenian VC fund Silicon Gardens. The fund will invest between 50 thousand and 1 million euros in Croatian startups, providing a spring in the step of many.

It goes without saying how important this agreement is for the Croatian and more specifically the Dalmatian technology scene. Toni Trivkovic, the founder and president of Split Tech City, explained that Luka Abrus, one of the founders of the Five agency, initially connected them with the Slovenian Silicon Gardens.

A fund with a different mission

"After the first contact was initially made, we soon realised that we share many values. We also like the fact that Silicon Gardens is about smart capital, i.e. capital with which the startup also receives mentoring," Trivkovic points out. The agreement, as he explained, is that Split Tech City proposes interesting Croatian startups to the Slovenian VC fund, that is, it connects them.

"After that, the Slovenian VC fund will evaluate a startup, and if someone doesn't pass, they'll receive guidelines on what needs to be done in order to make it more attractive to investors. Regardless of the outcome, the startup makes the best of the situation," said Trivkovic, adding that this cooperation will significantly improve the Split technology scene, where there weren't very many opportunities to get bigger investments in the recent past.

Cooperation with Silicon Gardens will change that. And we're talking about a different fund that was designed by the founders of startups with successful exits, that is, that were sold out of the ownership of the companies they founded. Their slogan is ''founders for founders'', and in addition to capital, they offer mentoring and contacts to startups, which gives the investment added value, i.e. smart money.

The first Silicon Gardens fund, SGF I, was founded back in 2014 by 20 private investors, who invested 300,000 euros in it. The value of the second fund, SGF II, which has existed since the pre-crisis year of 2019, stands at a whopping six million euros, and they're also about to establish a new, third fund, which will have about 30 million euros of capital in total.

That third fund, according to Kristian Asani, the head of community and programmes at Silicon Gardens, should be ready for investment this June. With its launch, as he pointed out, they're turning to larger investments across the entire region, which includes Split. "The ecosystem for Croatian startups is still in its development phase, and I'm sure that there will be good opportunities for investment," Asani points out.

Split as a tech Mecca

Trivkovic says that he hopes for the first investments in 2023, but he doesn't want to speculate when it comes to how many there will be in the end. Everything will depend on the quality of ideas and projects of Split's local startups, he says. In addition to that, he doesn't want to reveal yet whether they already have potential candidates to propose to the fund.

Split Tech City, a community that has existed since 2015, has successfully gathered together 85 companies. The founder of this technological community added that, in addition to investments, they have also agreed on other collaborations with Silicon Gardens, such as workshops for Croatian startups. "It will be a dynamic collaboration and we'll have at least two activities on an annual basis," announced Trivkovic.

With this cooperation, he also hopes to attract young technology companies from all over the Republic of Croatia, as well as the wider region, to Split. And while fifteen years ago the situation in the second largest Croatian city was such that young people moved away and even abroad due to a lack of opportunities, with the change in work trends, i.e. the possibility of working remotely, this is also changing. Split is thus becoming an increasingly common choice for a place to live. Split Tech City has heavily contributed to this turnaround.

For more, make sure to check out our business section.

February the 14th, 2023 - The Croatian DOK-ING company more than succeeded in attracting significant attention at the recently held Combat Engineering conference in the Polish city of Warsaw, marking yet another important move for the company.

Croatian companies are being thrust into the limelight across Europe and indeed the rest of the world, for the Croatian DOK-ING company, a recent event in Warsaw is likely to pay off.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the recently Combat Engineer conference in the Polish city of Warsaw managed to successfully gather together an impressive number of niche experts (800 of them in total), in both the industrial and military fields. They then had the opportunity to network, discuss, learn and shape the future of military engineering, and the very successful Croatian DOK-ING company saw it as an excellent opportunity to present its winning innovations.

The focus was primarily placed on advances in technology development and service-based solutions, as well as on understanding future threats and their various solutions.

Dino Isasegi, the sales manager of the Croatian DOK-ING company, gave a presentation on how robotics can improve solutions for the advanced implementation of the above.

After the presentation, military experts showed great interest in the Croatian DOK-ING company's set of impressive products and their experience in post-conflict zones, which proved that their MV-10 machines are an excellent solution for anti-tank mines.

With the war still raging in Ukraine following the shock Russian invasion this time last year, more and more in the military field are looking at the Republic of Croatia as an expert in dealing with post-conflict situations as it has had the unfortunate experience of war itself a mere thirty years ago. While the geopolitical situation is dire, current events are likely to prove important for numerous domestic companies.

For more on Croatian companies, entrepreneurs and innovation, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

February the 7th, 2023 - The leading group of German and Swiss agencies MYTY, which is based in Berlin, has taken over the largest Croatian communication agency 404 and Shape 404, a technology company that is part of the wider Croatian 404 group.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian 404 agency has become the very first domestic agency to participate in the consolidation process on the European market, and this is also MYTY's first foray from the DACH region into Southeastern Europe.

The Croatian 404 agency claims that they are working towards greater business success, which is the result of long-term investments in quality, and this all brings them the opportunity to work with some of the best agencies and clients from both Germany and Switzerland.

This is the fastest growing European initiative that consolidates communication, marketing and technology agencies, and MYTY brings together ten agencies spanning 26 offices across Germany and Switzerland. The group is known for bringing together the best agencies in their respective fields, while all agencies within the group retain their complete independence and own brands.

The same will happen with the Croatian 404 group, whose founders Nikola Vrdoljak, Martina Pintaric and Zoran Stekovic have become partners in the company.

It is otherwise the largest Croatian communications agency of all with more than 80 clients from the region's strongest industries, while Shape 404 is focused on technology projects. The group employs 180 employees and back in 2022, they achieved a very impressive non-consolidated income of almost 16 million euros, or 25 percent more than the year before.

"We've been researching and looking into what our next step should be in terms of the development of our group for a long time now and we finally found a partner who offers and sees the future in the same way as we do. MYTY is a step forward that will allow us to provide our clients with an even better and more advanced service, and our teams will get to work for new challenging clients in foreign markets.

The Croatian 404 agency will continue to operate completely independently, under the same brand, and will contribute to the development of the entire group with its knowledge and teams. We're focused on our clients who are primarily leaders in their own industries, digital challengers and leaders within the tech sector,'' said Nikola Vrdoljak from the Croatian 404 agency.

MYTY says that this is the next step in the internationalisation of their group.

"404 is one of the most awarded agencies in Southeastern Europe and is becoming a centre for the continuous expansion of the group in that same part of Europe. With more than 80 clients, including major brands such as Adidas, Uber, Huawei, Coca-Cola and McDonald's, the agency is laying the foundations for further expansion. For both 404 and Shape, this integration is a big step forward, since MYTY offers the possibility of cooperation with the best agencies and clients in Germany and Switzerland," the German-Swiss group announced yesterday.

“We're very excited about their addition to the group, with 404, we aren't only leaving the DACH region for the first time ever and gaining access to a new geographic market, but we're also able to additionally expand our capabilities and capacities in the areas of international communications and product development," said David Rost, the co-founder and CEO of the MYTY Group, on the occasion of the takeover.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.