Apil 11, 2021 - The largest Croatian software company Infobip acquires Split Shift Conference, just after taking over US company OpenMarket.

In the next few years, Split will become the center of the world. At least in one thing. The first Croatian unicorn startup Infobip has completed its second acquisition, reports Novac.Jutanji.hr.

After a $300 million acquisition of a rival American company, OpenMarket, Infobip has decided to acquire a Croatian company. Namely, they have acquired the largest conference for computer programmers in Southeast Europe, Split Shift Conference.

The reason? The largest Croatian software company wants to create the largest developer conference in the world, in Croatia.

Developers are considered to be developers, but also all others who work on software development. The first step on that path will be the Infobip Shift Dev conference announced for September at the Spaladium Arena.

Izabel Jelenić, co-founder and technical director of Infobip, says that he will not announce the transaction's value.

"This is an important acquisition with which Infobip is making a strategic shift in business by focusing on developers, internal and external," says Jelenić.

He adds that the founder and director of Shift Conference, Ivan Burazin, became a member of the Infobip board for developer experience. Burazin will head the so-called Developer Experience department within the company.

Jelenić states that this department's goal is to create the largest global development conference and introduce and implement various initiatives to strengthen the development community.

Software companies compete globally for the market with classic sales and a presence in the developer community. Many build their own development communities, which know their software and thus make potential corporate customers more willing to acquire their own software products.

"We are all excited about this new collaboration. We have known Ivan Burazin for a long time, and we believe that we all have wonderful and great things ahead of us," says Jelenić.

Infobip itself, which has surpassed 3,000 employees in Europe, both the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia, internally has more than 800 developers.

Jelenić says that they are making huge progress in terms of the external development community.

"We realize them through numerous initiatives, such as our Dev Days conference, as well as by opening our products to end-users, in this case, developers," explains Jelenić.

It is less well known that Infobip has been organizing its own Dev Deyse development conferences since 2015. In Tuheljske Toplice, they would gather more than 500 programmers, mostly their own. At the last physical conference in 2019, Mate Rimac, Damir Sabol, and Ivan Burazin were guests at Dev Days.

Dev Days also attracted global program stars. They hosted Juergen Hoeller, co-founder and one of the key people of the Spring framework, a programming environment in which corporations worldwide develop more than half of their software.

But that conference never competed with Shift, which from the start was mostly geared towards the global community, so it remained smaller and focused on internal education at Infobip.

"We continue to organize the Dev Days conference, which we will now, with the acquisition of Shift, further improve and enrich with the experience and production brought by Shift. The level above this whole story is the third day of the conference, which is open to the public, and Infobip Shift will now take the stage," Jelinić emphasizes.

On the other hand, Shift has branched out in recent years, so it has started organizing conferences on fintech, artificial intelligence, and other topics. But his strongest product is still the Shift Dev conference for developers.

Before the pandemic, in 2019, Shift Dev gathered 1300 participants from all over the world in Split.

The conference, which has grown into the largest such event in Southeast Europe, is attended by top developers from Booking, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and Shopify.

But also several programming stars such as PHP creator Rasmus Lerdorf and CSS creator Håkon Wium Lie.

Ivan Burazin is convinced that with Infobip, they can scale Shift into the world's largest developer conference and emphasizes that he did not decide to sell because of the pandemic.

"Last year was certainly harder for us than the previous ones, but when it comes to finances, we concluded it better than 2019, which was the best year for Shift ever. This year we are planning a completely new, sensational level - a developer conference that would be even bigger than any edition of Shift so far," concludes Burazin.

To read more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

January the 27th, 2021 - The Croatian company Infobip has had some incredible achievements to boast of over time. From humble beginnings to being recognised and respected across the world, this Croatian enterprise has worked with some huge names. It seems that trend is set to continue.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the largest Pakistani bank, Allied Bank, has included WhatsApp communication with users in its business, and the Croatian company Infobip will help in its implementation and making sure it performs to the best level possible.

Through this new cooperation, the Croatian company Infobip will additionally position itself as one of the global leaders, and Allied Bank will get an excellent solution in terms of cloud communication, availability and satisfaction of many users, the companies claim, as was reported by ICT Business.

More specifically, the Bank of Pakistan wants to strengthen its overall digital presence and offer for its universal banking users in a way that would meet their expectations. Of course, in order to achieve something like this, it is necessary that these services and digital presence be in line with what is required and expected today in terms of the connection between the organisation and its end users.

In this case, something like this is set to be achieved through the wildly popular WhatsApp channel, which means that it is necessary to enable a chatbot that will be at the service of users in every sense.

For example, if an end user is interested in their account balance, the specific details of a particular transaction, the benefits that the bank offers and information about the branch or ATM in its vicinity, the chatbot will have to be up to standard and completely accurate, but also fast, which the Croatian compan Infobip will have no issue in providing.

In addition, the interaction itself must be simple, so that users immediately understand all the benefits of WhatsApp communication with Allied Bank.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

December the 11th, 2020 - What might the school of the future look like? Croatian schools, more specifically primary and secondary schools, are set to get a taste of the incredible world of AI (artificial intelligence) thanks to the coming together of Infobip and STEMI.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, The School of the Future is the name of the first STEM programme for artificial intelligence (AI) for Croatian schools, which, as of February 2021, will be implemented by STEMI in cooperation with Infobip, with the support of A1 Croatia. The goal is to open a window into the technological future for Croatian schools and their primary and secondary students by bringing them closer to the world of AI through practical work, thus creating new artificial intelligence engineers, while strengthening the link between the IT sector and education in general.

Back during the summer, STEMI started researching the feasibility of the idea and elaboration, and in October they joined forces with Infobip, one of Croatia's top technology leaders whose engineers will work with Croatian schools and their students in terms of the preparation of digital materials and the development of the environment, so that they can work on their projects from at home or at school.

''The quality of knowledge transfer to the youngest generations - and this is where Infobip has found a great partner in STEMI - is of great importance if we want long-term social progress. AI is one of the main technological directions for Infobip and it's very important to us that the youngest generations learn about the technology of the future from an early age. New leaders and innovators are hiding among those individuals,'' said Izabel Jelenic, the technical director of Infobip.

STEMI presented the project to teachers at the Carnet conference, after which the number of applications for inclusion was much higher than the planned number of Croatian schools. ''The idea is for students to form development teams and, as a first step, study UN sustainability goals, select one of the goals, and explore which problem they can solve with an AI chatbot within that same goal. For example, students can create a bot that will help doctors in medical triage, or in determining the urgency of a case, which can help make the system more efficient, especially in these times when the healthcare system is under enormous pressure, all leading to the goal of achieving the goal of sustainability - Good health and well-being. They'll then be able to further explore the domain of the problem, define the knowledge that the bot must be able to cover, and start implementing that. We believe that Croatian schools should also be places in which the future is imagined and created. That's why we're going to give students the task to imagine what the world will look like in 10-20 years from now, when AI will be all around us,'' explained the director of STEMI, Marin Troselj.

As an educational-technological company, they focus, he says, lies primarily on building a bridge between industry and primary and secondary education.

''Today we live in Industry 4.0. and when we look at World Economic Forum research, the technologies and knowledge that will lead the industry are data analysis, machine learning, web / mobile application development, virtual and augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, etc. These things are extremely underrepresented in all schools around the world. On the other hand, AI will make a similar transformation of both industry and society as electrification did back during the late 19th century. That's why it's extremely important to introduce children from an early age to one of the basic tools in the technology industry, but more importantly, to become aware of the impact of this technology on their very own lives,'' said Troselj. Interested Croatian schools can apply to participate in the School of the Future project on the website until January the 31st, 2021.

''Digitalisation is transforming society and business, and lately it's been the real backbone of every industry. Therefore, it's necessary to teach children advanced skills such as artificial intelligence, in order to be active members of the digital generation from an early age, ready for new jobs that await them in the future.

At A1 Croatia, we've always been focused on the development of digital skills and new occupations such as data analysts, AI and machine learning specialists, robotics experts, and we want to share this knowledge with the community,'' said Jiri Dvorjancansky, the CEO of A1 Croatia.

In addition to the main partner being A1 Croatia, the project was also supported by Croatia osiguranje, Zagrebacka banka, Bosch and Score Alarm. Thanks to the support of these companies, the School of the Future project will be implemented in more than 40 Croatian schools throughout the country. The project is expected to be completed in May 2021.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

December the 6th, 2020 - Roberto Kutic, the founder of the wildly successful Vodnjan-based Croatian company Infobip, has discussed how the pandemic has affected the industry in which Infobip has taken an enviably strong position.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Roberto Kutic writes, many things have fundamentally altered over the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and what has still managed to experience enormous acceleration is technological advancement.

There is a visible difference in how people currently use different services, especially when it comes to the communication segment. The market in which Infobip operates is growing rapidly, technology is evolving and companies are increasingly improving their communication channels, because with them, they manage to reach their customers in moments of this sort of physical disconnection. However, this accelerated digital transformation and all the significant technological changes that have taken place will remain and will continue to develop strongly even after the coronavirus period has passed - because the benefits have become very obvious to everyone. We expect to continue to be an important factor on this market, precisely because of the need for the technology we provide.

For us at Infobip, every year represents a completely new beginning, a new start for the company. This is how we're looking at 2021, which we're entering with a mindset of exponential growth. In front of Infobip lie more new milestones and goals. One of our most important moments in Croatia will be the opening of the Zagreb campus Alpha Centauri, also Infobip's strongest engineering HUB. On top of all that, we also have a considerable and challenging job ahead of us in terms of business growth and employment.

It is a year in which we'll move towards our stronger positioning in the always competitive American market, which is gravitated to by the world's largest technology companies. We have a large space in front of us there and it is the only region in the world in which we we have yet to step forward in a stronger way, and we're rapidly preparing for precisely that move.

Here in Croatia, the IT sector has left a significant mark this year. The strength of this industry has been confirmed by the recent successes of many Croatian technology companies. That part of the economy is full of potential and can provide a really strong spring in the step of other branches of the economy as well, if it's allowed to fully do so. We're sure that next year will bring many new success stories from Croatian technological circles, which we'll all be very proud of indeed.

Written by Roberto Kutic of Infobip

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

December 4, 2020 – Founders of Croatian IT companies Nanobit and Infobip are this year's best businessmen in Croatia. According to the choice of the Večernji list and Poslovni dnevnik readers, the businessmen of the year are Silvio and Roberto Kutić and Izabel Jelenić from Infobip, while according to the choice of the expert jury, this award goes to the founders of Nanobit Alan Sumina and Zoran Vučinić.

As Večernji.hr reports, the fifth selection for "Businessman and Economic Event of the Year" was held today, for the first time in the online edition.

The winners were chosen by the readers of Večernji list and Poslovni dnevnik, who decided to give this recognition to Silvija and Robert Kutić and Izabel Jelenić from the Croatian IT company Infobip, which is the first Croatian unicorn (worth more than a billion dollars).

'IT resistant to COVID'

At Infobip in Vodnjan, they are primarily engaged in mobile communication, and one of their clients is WhatsApp. It was founded in 2006, and the founders then had only two laptops and borrowed money from their parents. This year, a foreign investor invested 200 million dollars in Infobip, and today this company is the leader of the Croatian economy.

"We continue to work in order to develop as much as possible," said Silvio Kutić very briefly and clearly, and expressed satisfaction that he and other colleagues from the sector are a positive example from Croatia. Roberto Kutić added that this is an industry that was lucky because it is resistant to COVID, and Izabel Jelenić concluded that they still stick to their motto - they are just at the beginning and there is much more ahead of them.

Growth and competitiveness

For the best economic event of the year, readers chose the selling Nanobit's stake in the company to the Swedish giant Stillfront, and the founders of that company, Alan Sumina and Zoran Vučinić, were chosen as businessmen of the year by the expert jury. Nanobit is a gaming company that, like Infobip, was founded with only two laptops, but with a lot of will and perseverance.

"I am especially pleased to see in whose company we are today. Neither Infinum, nor Infobip, nor Rimac Automobili, nor we did not exist 10-15 years ago or we were so small that we were not interesting to anyone. And today we are representatives not only of the IT industry but of the economy in Croatia in general. Moreover, we show that this is the 'healthiest' part of the Croatian industry that can grow at a rapid pace and be competitive in the global market," said Alan Sumina.

Nanobit made their first million on a fitness app and then started developing games. Today, after 12 years, it has 125 highly educated employees and their games are played monthly by more than 10 million active players worldwide.

"The gaming industry in Croatia is just beginning to develop and although it has experienced great changes in recent years, many times they have experienced it a bit frivolously. If nothing else, now at least that dilemma has been removed and the value of companies like Nanobit has been confirmed, but apart from us, there are many other companies and I think that in the next few years some of them will achieve greater success than us," said Alan Sumina.

Helping the private sector

For the economic event of the year, renowned journalists and editors who cover the economy, as well as leading economists and scientists from the field of economics, who formed the expert jury, evaluated the state aid for job preservation.

This year, the Croatian government will direct about 10 billion kunas to preserve jobs, which was one of the first and most concrete state measures aimed at companies and employees. One or more months of support were used by more than a hundred thousand employers for almost 600 thousand workers, and if there were no measures, tens of thousands of people would lose their jobs.

Andrej Plenković stated that they reacted quickly and decisively in this crisis. They showed how much state intervention was necessary in these circumstances, to help the private sector in the first place, and they will continue with the measures.

Building big world brands in Croatia

Mate Rimac, the founder of Rimac cars, Tomislav Car from Infinum, and Marin Pucar, the President of the Management Board of Podravka, were also nominated in the category for the businessman of the year. In the category of the economic event of the year, Croatia's entry into the European exchange rate mechanism, the growth of Infobip into the category of the unicorn, and the agreement on a new EU financial envelope were also in competition.

Although 2020 was full of challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, there were many achievements and inspirational stories.

"When it comes to this competition, we can conclude that this is a year in which there has been a big turn in the selection of the 'most successful'. These are no longer companies that started in the former state or the 90s. This is a year marked by 'some new kids', kids who started businesses with only two laptops, and today have multinational companies whose revenues are dizzying billions," said the editor-in-chief of Večernji list Dražen Klarić.

He concluded that 2020 showed that there are new, inspiring, and young entrepreneurs who are ready to invest here and build big world brands from Croatia.

To read more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

November the 20th, 2020 - The Croatian company Infobip is often in the news and media for all the right reasons, and this remarkable domestic IT company has entered into yet another extremely significant partnership.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Vodnjan-based Infobip, the largest Croatian IT company and digital agencies PM Ljubljana and 01 Content & Technology Zagreb, members of the largest European content marketing network C3, have entered into a partnership to increase the quality of brand communication.

According to a recent announcement, the partnership will enable the C3 Adriatic network to create personalised communication for its customers using the Croatian company Infobip's own platform, from Answers chatbots, the Conversations cloud contact centere, to the most modern tool for engaging users of Moments.

The aim of this new partnership is to increase customer satisfaction so that communication takes place through the channel that the user prefers, at the moment that suits them best and with useful and relevant information they actually do need at that time, and solutions will be offered to clients here in Croatia's immediate region and across Europe.

Aleksandar Daic, the Croatian company Infobip's Strategic Director for Partnerships, pointed out that digital agencies are at the forefront, because they help their clients create a superior user experience.

"That's why, through our partnership with C3 Adriatic, we want to offer solutions that enrich the user experience and bring strong benefits to customers throughout Europe," explained Daic.

Karsten Kramer, Member of the Management Board of C3 Creative Code and Content GmbH, explained that C3 helps brands to remain relevant partners in the lives of their customers.

''More than 700 strategists, designers, journalists, editors, engineers in the C3 Group develop and implement communication solutions with outstanding results. The C3 combines creativity, content and technology, all aspects of advanced communication under one roof,'' noted Kramer.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 12th of November, 2020, the Croatian Infobip, the first domestic "unicorn" with a market value of more than a billion US dollars, is, as we previously reported, entering the American market - they're buying their subsidiary OpenMarket, a platform for sending SMS messages, from the American company Amdocs, for a price of almost 300 million US dollars.

A sales contract with the owner of OpenMarket has now been signed, and the transaction between the Croatian Infobip and OpenMarket, which will be concluded following its approval by US regulators, will enable more than 14 billion user interactions per month through a number of communication channels across more than 190 countries.

''Infobip and OpenMarket together can boast of more than 10,000 business users, which includes many of the world's most prominent companies. We'll be able to better meet the needs of our customers in every part of the world with the best direct connectivity, with more than 650 telecom operators, a superior, shared portfolio of cloud communications solutions and an SaaS offer,'' explained Silvio Kutic, the CEO of the Croatian Infobip, adding that they have an exciting period ahead of them and that this is just the beginning.

Jonathan Morgan, the director of OpenMarket, feels the same way. Back during this summer, the Croatian Infobip raised more than 200 million US dollars in the first round of funding from the investment fund One Equity Partners. Then, they announced their expansion in the USA with the help of the cash from that fund, with the announcement of potential takeovers, and it seems that the current focus is on acquisitions. The trio from Vodnjan - Roberto and Silvio Kutic, as well as Izabel Jelenic - directed precisely that 200 million US dollars towards gaining the largest American clients, which they've now been able to confirm.

The Seattle-based OpenMarket fits into the Croatian Infobip’s portfolio because their main product is cloud-based mobile messaging, which includes sending SMS, MMS, RCS and short codes, local numbers and free messaging. The company has about 300 employees, with revenues of about 200 million US dollars, and their services are used by more than 400 companies. Today, Infobip has more than 65 offices worldwide and more than 2,700 employees. They grossed 602 million US dollars last year and have grown an average of 48 percent a year for the past decade, with more than 300,000 business clients including WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Costco, Virgin Megastore, Strava, Uber, Unilever, Zendesk and Burger King.

They started back in 2006 as a small startup in Vodnjan in Istria, which gradually built up its own global network. Today, they provide proprietary technology that can reach more than seven billion devices in more than 190 countries, and are directly connected to more than 600 telecom operators worldwide.

In just seven years, they have grown from zero kuna to a worth of 100 million US dollars and now they are among the ten fastest growing B2B SaaS companies in the whole world.

In October, the Infobip Management Board received two strong names - Gregor Potocar, who was appointed Vice President for Revenue, while Aleksandar Raic was appointed Vice President for Transformation and Human Resources. Then, Potocar announced that the Croatian Infobip was preparing for the upcoming period of enormous growth of the company, which will be marked by new business segments and entry into new markets.

"Infobip is facing an exciting period in which we expect a large increase in the number of people within the company through acquisitions and new employments, further structuring, as well as the continuation of the digitalisation process at the company level," Raic announced at the time.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

November 11, 2020 - Croatian Infobip bought the American company OpenMarket for $300 million. It is a subsidiary of Amdocs, which, like Infobip, deals with SMS sending services.

"We can confirm that an OpenMarket purchase agreement has been signed with the seller, Amdocs. We are currently awaiting final details and will release more information today during the day," Infobip briefly confirmed on Index.hr.

This summer, Infobip raised more than $200 million in the first round of financing from the One Equity Partners investment fund.

After that success, they announced that it would help them expand the company in the United States through acquisitions.

Infobip started in 2006 as a small start-up company from Vodnjan in Istria. Today, with almost 15 years of experience in the IT industry, it employs more than 2,100 people globally and operates on six continents through 67 offices.

The reason for this success is Infobip's communication platform and services for businesses that can reach almost 7 billion users and things in more than 190 countries, thus enabling seamless mobile communication of businesses with their end-users - on every channel and device, at any time and no matter what part of the world they are in.

In 2018 alone, two-thirds of the world's population, or 4.7 billion people, used Infobip's services. The company collaborates and partners with leading mobile operators, messaging application companies, banks, e-commerce companies, social networks, and technology companies. Infobip is recognized worldwide as the winner of numerous awards for the quality of services it provides, collaborating with more than 300,000 clients; with the world's largest chat applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, and with globally known brands such as Virgin Megastore, Fear, Uber, Zendesk, Burger King and many others.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

September 18, 2020 - The recent successes of Infobit, Riimac Automobili, Nanobit and Infinum show the potential of the Croatian private sector. Time to unleash the Croatian entrepreneur?

Even though we have only physically met once, one of my favourite people to follow on social media in Croatia is serial entrepreneur Andrija Colak. Co-founder of Croatia's most successful franchise (Surf'n'Fries - now in 5 continents), as well as the innovative smart umbrella, Kisha (which he cheekily sent to President Putin after the World Cup Final to avoid any presidents or prime ministers getting wet due to unexpected rainfall in the future), Andrija kindly agreed to a TCN interview last year in which I asked him about the positive aspects of doing business in Croatia:

In terms of positives... well if you are up for an adventure you have come to the right place :-) Or... if you really want to test your concept and it survives in Croatia, you can conquer the world! hahah! Actually, I'm not joking.

Successful entrepreneurs here tell me that they have succeeded here not because of Croatia, but DESPITE Croatia. So many others have given up with the bureaucracy, high taxes and nepotism, take their concepts abroad and succeed there. 

But some decide to stay and try their luck here - after all, you cannot beat the Croatian lifestyle. 

I sometimes feel that I live in two countries in Croatia. The first Croatia is the same one which is familiar to all its residents, with the worsening economic situation, polarising politics, constant complaining, corruption, and negative mindset. No wonder people are emigrating. 

But the other Croatia is a totally different place, one where only positivity exists, and where I have decided to spend an increasing amount of my time and energy.

The Croatia of the Croatian entrepreneur. 

Despite the obstacles and the negative stigma attached to entrepreneurs in Croatia, these forward-thinking individuals are quietly achieving miracles DESPITE Croatia. One only wonders what could be achieved with the system supporting their efforts. Two stunning announcements in the last 24 hours are the latest in a series of great news from the Croatian entrepreneurial world, and they give a glimpse of what Croatia 2.0 can deliver to this country. And the thousands of jobs that have been created as a direct result of the business ideas of just a few individuals in a country which is in economic crisis is quite staggering. Indeed Rimac Automobili announced last week that it has hired an additional 150 workers during the pandemic, as tens of millions of jobs were being lost worldwide. Just over a decade ago, Rimac was one man in a garage. Today, the company is closing in on 1,000 employees.  

Here are just four things that have happened in the last few weeks, the first two in the last 24 hours (all are links to TCN articles with full details. 

Swedish Gaming Giant Takes Over Zagreb Company Nanobit for Almost One Billion Kuna

Car Magazine: Rimac Automobili to Takeover Bugatti

Infobip: Croatian Company Raises 200 Million US Dollars for Investment

Porsche Digital Croatia Plans to Employ 100 Experts in Next 3 Years in Infinum Partnership

The eco-system of Croatian entrepreneurial excellence is growing, and I come across this excellence daily in my second Croatia. A meeting last week at Human, for example, who earlier this year beat Google at the prestigious Webby awards, considered the Oscars of the industry. In December I was in Berlin to se Bagatin Clinic collect the award for best international cosmetic surgery clinic 2019. And one only has to spend a short time with Nenad and Rujana Bakic and their STEM revolution and exciting partnership with Google.org to know that the seeds of the future are being sown extremely well. 

Fresh from his successful initiative to introduce the digital nomad visa to Croatia, which has the potential to make a significant contribution to Croatia's economic numbers, Dutchman Jan de Jong and partner Jerko Trgolic are turning their attention to agriculture, with an initial project to grow tomatoes in northern Croatia, using Dutch technology and Croatian land and labour. The first phase will create 72 jobs in an economically depressed part of northern Croatia.

So many seeds, some of which have blossomed such as Rimac, Nanobit and Infobip, and SO many more that could do the same if they were getting the support they deserve rather than punishing taxation and bureaucracy. I have no idea how many jobs Rimac, Infobit, Nanobit and Infinum have created alone, but it is in the thousands. Imagine if the system was conducive to allowing other such ideas and concepts grow in Croatia - how many more tens and hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created? 

Last year, I met an American consultant for the medical tourism industry at a conference in Zagreb, and we talked about what needed to happen for this Croatian industry to progress (an industry with huge - here I go saying the hated 'P' word again - potential). He told me that the role of government was to provide the legislative framework for the industry to thrive, perhaps bring some financing, but most importantly, then get the hell out of the way

For many years, I bought into the story that Croatia was an economic basket case, with no prospects for employment, and that the emigration was inevitable. But in this second Croatia, the world of the Croatian entrepreneur, the situation is completely different, and the opportunity is there, even more so if we can unleash the Croatian entrepreneur to fulfil his or her true potential. 

And we have a very good precedent of how quickly and effectively change can be introduced. An open letter to the Prime Minister from a Dutchman on LinkedIn on July 11 asking for the introduction of a digital nomad visa started a process which resulted with the prime minister tweeting his plans to introduce the visa just 44 days later, with an amendment to the Foreigner's Act introduced to Parliament the following day. Things are moving smoothly behind the scenes, and my understanding is that this legislation should be in place by January 1. 

Croatia a bureaucratic country? It clearly doesn't have to be. 

Unleash the Croatian entrepreneur, and watch many more seeds like Rimac, Nanobit and Infobip start to bloom all over the country. 

Learn more about foreign entrepreneurs making a success of life in Croatia. 

As Bernard Ivezic/Novac writes on the 1th of September, 2020, Infobip, the first Croatian unicorn startup, and Span, the largest Croatian software exporter and one of the ten largest IT companies in Croatia, have entered into a sales partnership. Infobip became famous on the market for its SMS services, and now Infobip and Span are a force to be reckoned with.

As a result of previous business moves, the Croatian unicorn, Infobip, which is led by Silvio Kutic, has more than four billion end users and more than seven billion monthly transactions. The business, in turn, collaborates with huge clients such as Facebook, Google and Uber.

In the meantime, Infobip has expanded its offer and, in addition to SMS solutions, created complex IT solutions called Moments, Conversations and Answers. In addition to making it easier to reach a billion-dollar valuation, the new software products forced the Croatian IT ace to start building new, global sales infrastructure. That's where Span comes in.

Aleksandar Daic, strategic manager for users and partners at Infobip, says that today there is no organisation that isn't moving towards digital transformation. He stated that in cooperation with Span, he will accelerate the digital transformation of existing and new clients.

"That's why we believe that technology companies should join forces and bring their expertise together in order to deliver the best communication solutions to customers and accelerate business change," explained Daic.

Span is, much like Infobip, a global company. It has more than 1,500 clients on six continents. In Croatia, Span, led by Nikola Dujmovic, is one of the ten largest IT companies in terms of revenue, the largest software exporter and the longest-serving partner of Microsoft in Croatia, ie the longest-standing partner of the largest software company in the world. This means that it has vast experience in selling not only simple bundled software but also the most complex IT solutions.

This year, Span was even recognised as Microsoft Partner of the Year in Croatia. It is a title for which more than 3,300 companies from one hundred countries competed. The partnership with Microsoft is additionally interesting to Infobip, because Span has proven to be a great sales partner that is both very efficient and innovative in the way it sells solutions based on Microsoft technology. It is a winning combination that Infobip also wants to achieve.

The company Span is atypical for Croatian conditions. About 15 years ago, Span's management bought the company from the then owner, the Hungarian Synergon, for 10.56 million kuna. It was the first buyout management in Croatia. Soon, Span became one of the biggest cloud players in Croatia, boasting global contracts with the likes of McDonald’s, Heineken and eventually Rolls Royce Marine.

Infobip, on the other hand, is the fastest growing Croatian software company. In 2019, it had revenue growth of 38 percent to 602 million euros. Infobip has been growing at a similar pace for years, so it is on the list of the ten fastest growing companies that develop subscriber software which is purchased over the Internet, so-called SaaS. Atlassian, Salesforce and Slack are on the same list. This explains why Infobip has to look for new ways to sell its software and why Span is precisely the company to help them do it.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.