As Novac writes on the 1st of November, 2019, the Croatian company Infinum, which, by the way, operates not only here in the Republic of Croatia, but all over the world, said that simply changing their web domain from infinum.hr to infinum.com saw great changes follow.

''We started the company back while we were still students with lots of ideas but very shallow pockets, so we had to be careful what we spent. Since we started in Croatia, we got the ''.hr'' domain for free. But to expand our business abroad, we needed a country-specific domain,'' Tomislav Car wrote on the Infinum website, adding that he and his colleague, Matej Špoler, had decided in this context to buy the .co domain because it was the "closest" to .com, which was still too expensive for them at the time.

But as many as 495 of the top 500 American companies in 2016 had the .com domain, he points out, so it seemed to the two that this was one of the conditions for a successful business, and as Infinum grew, so did Car and Špoler's investment opportunities. When the company reached a figure of 30 employees, they decided it was time to take a step further. Still, the infinum.com domain was taken.

''Alexander had a software development company of the same name and had no intention of selling us the domain name. His clients knew him by that name, so the change was risky,'' recalled Tomislav Car, who was not stopped by this obstacle on the way to his desired address for the company's website.

Instead, he sent mail to Alexander five to six times a year for the entire seven years and each time offered him more money for the letter 'm' in the domain name. While the Croatian company Infinum was growing and enjoying more business success, the American company of the same name decided to change its focus, so the name of the company no longer meant that much. Still, Car claims, "Alexander wasn't ready to give up his domain."

''It made sense. We were the only buyer, and he was the only seller. My first offer was 3,000 US dollars while his counter offer was 100,000 US dollars. Our seven-year bargaining would even embarrass the traders from Istanbul's Bazaar,'' said the co-founder of Infinum, adding that after these painstaking and lengthy negotiations, they paid 25,000 US dollars for the letter.

Yet, he believes, it has paid off. Search engines like Google, as Car explained, are well known for ranking domains not related to a particular country when listing results.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 30th of October, 2019, this Croatian-made device is named Stuey, based on the English word ''stuttering'', and the process of patenting and protecting intellectual property is ongoing. It is estimated that more than 70 million people are tortured with this problem in the world, while that number in Croatia stands at around 70,000.

Although the exact cause for stuttering is unknown, most scientists today consider stuttering to be a neurological condition that interferes with speech production. Daily situations involving speech cause high levels of stress and tension for people who stutter, leading them to avoid social interactions, which can often cause serious mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

Damir Skoko recognised that telephone calls tend to be among the most difficult situations for people who stutter, so he came up with the idea of ​​developing the electronic Stuey device two years ago in order to try to help people who stutter by trying to make telephone communication easier for them. He first researched the market and then kicked off the project.

"As an extension of the hands-free phone kit, it connects to a mobile phone and, using an innovative method, allows the stuttering person to make the desired call. I can't speak in more detail about the specific technical characteristics of the device. It's not some high-tech speech modification solution as many people think; the solution is actually quite simple and comes from having good knowledge about stuttering issues,'' explains Damir.

To further the project, he conducted research among people who stutter, and the results, as he said, were useful.

"All of the respondents rated their stuttering as more frequent during a telephone conversation than in general. Furthermore, 89.2 percent of the respondents believe that such a phone-assisted device will reduce their stress and tension levels and increase their quality of life," the Croatian innovator said. He is still working on all of the details, and with his team he is primarily striving to minimise the product's dimensions.

"Over recent months, I've been intensively working on device development in collaboration with a young Zagreb-based electronics development company. Firstly, I'm thinking of getting the device certification for Europe and America, defining the sales channels and dealing with marketing activities,'' Damir explains.

In his business, he says, he will focus on the market area of health and quality of life, and in particular on devices for assisting people who stutter. Although he is aware that competition exists in this particular area, he is convinced that there is still plenty of room for progress.

"For business success, it's necessary to move in line with market needs and recognise opportunities in the environment, so I'm open to opportunities in other areas in addition to the issue of stuttering," Damir added.

He is a graduate engineer with ten years of experience in projects in Croatia and abroad, but has always had ambitions for private enterprise and starting his own business. He sought opportunities and sought to further inform himself about market needs.

He received useful guidance at the Croatian ZICER Blue Office (Plavi Ured). He then received financial support that helped him get started developing the products and preparing the devices for the global market.

As he is already in contact with certain foreign organisations for stuttering persons, his desire is to present Stuey first to the largest such organisation in Europe - the British Stammering Association.

There is also a significant Stuttering Association in America, the National Stuttering Association - therefore, this Croatian entrepreneur will primarily focus on presenting and promoting the device through various worldwide stuttering associations and organisations.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 30th of October, 2019, back in the middle of November last year, the Nar store with a rich offer of local and organic fruits and vegetables from Croatian OPGs opened in the Zagreb district of Špansko, more precisely at Ulica Marija Radić 14.

In the first week of the opening the store alone, a large number of interested people gathered in the neighbourhood, and all the credit goes to sisters Azra and Dina Delić. These young entrepreneurs graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb; Azra completed her bachelor's degree in horticulture in the field of vegetable growing, and Dina in agroeconomics in agribusiness and rural development.

With the valuable knowledge gained at the faculty and listening to the needs of others, especially the younger population, who are increasingly choosing Croatian products and paying more careful attention to what makes up their diet, they decided to offer something to such conscious people within the Nar shop.

"Our goal was to find a new area with a predominantly younger population, which brought us all the way to the west of Zagreb, where there are a lot of new buildings and young families with small children who want to know what exactly they're consuming. For some, we're new and we try to listen to new customers and their questions and requests, so we can get new ideas. The interest is very big. The domestic products are much tastier, and of course, they're also healthier, so if someone wasn't interested in buying this type of product initially, after trying some of the domestic products, they come back to buy more and more.

The more we know exactly where the products came from and our customers also get to know that too, gives us even greater confidence to buy local products,'' says 26-year-old Azra, who used the support of the Croatian Employment Service and with the welcome support, help and assistance of expert advisor Alma Jakupović, she successfully stepped into the world of entrepreneurship with her sister.

There's a lot of support for each other, Azra says, so they work excellently when it comes to both business and private matters; while Azra easily agrees with suppliers and local producers on how to produce fruits and vegetables, Dina puts it all down on paper and does the accounts.

From abroad, they procure products that are not actually available here in Croatia, and these are ecologically certified products. Their business network is constantly expanding, and they are currently working with around 50 Croatian OPGs.

"Some people contact us and offer their products, and we meet some of them at trade shows, through OPGs, with whom we're already working or we find something new and interesting by surfing the Internet. We try to visit our co-workers on their properties as much time allows us to do so, so that we can convey to our customers the best way their fruits and vegetables are grown, and later the processed products,'' explains Azra.

People of all ages come to their store because here, says the entrepreneur, everyone can find something they like. "Kids always choose some healthy biscuits or our freshly squeezed juice, and the older ones will still treat themselves to a bottle of top quality oil or some semi-hard cheese," she adds.

"We're satisfied with the business as we've been able to cover all of our costs so far, but for further progress and development I think we'll have to be patient for a little while longer,'' concludes Azra.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 29th of October, 2019, The Croatian startup Amodo, whose software products are used by America's largest insurer AIG, has been listed among the top five insuretech startups in the world by the Financial Times.

Insuretech stands for insurance tech, and these involve companies that make technological innovations within the insurance industry. The highly respected and reputable publication states that insurers have long resisted change, but that is now beginning to alter rapidly.

According to Deloitte, 2.6 billion US dollars was invested globally last year in insuretech companies, accelerating that investment. In the first six months of this year alone, that amount climbed to 2.2 billion dollars. Marian Mumdžhiev, CEO of Amodo, says that he is very proud of the success of his team.

"The Financial Times has listed Amodo's collaboration with AIG, Triglav and P&V among the top five best practices in the insurance industry in the world, and it makes me so proud of the Amodo team," says Mumdžhiev. The Croatian startup found itself in listed within a very respectable group indeed, alongside companies such as Aon, EY and Guardtime, Hiscox and Inrobin and Mapfre, thanks to jobs it did for AIG, Triglav and P&V.

The startup provided the aforementioned companies with telemetry data analytics services for driver behaviour. The Croatian startup Amodo gives drivers a so-called "driving score" or perhaps better to say driving rating. This information is then paired by insurers with their offers and goes to create new products that financially reward conscientious driving while penalising drivers who don't drive carefully. One example of how Amodo does this is the AIG Drive Master mobile application (app). Under different names, this product is also available in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Based on the example of the AIG Drive Master in Hong Kong, the app uses GPS data from the driver's mobile phone to evaluate, for example, with what style the driver accelerates and brakes.

Furthermore, the app encourages users to drive more safely and challenges them to compete with other drivers in the conscience of driving. One form of motivation is the competition for the best driver in Hong Kong and the other in the form of specific prizes. These can range from coffee all the way to free fuel over the next year. Amodo's driving rating also affects the price a driver will pay for an insurance policy.

The Croatian startup Amodo is based in Zagreb and was initially founded six years ago. It has, to date, connected more than 700,000 drivers to its cloud platform, which, among other things, processes data on speed, sudden braking and acceleration, the GPS position of each user, and other things. Amodo has invested just over one million dollars in three investment rounds, as was publicly announced.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 29th of October, 2019, this encouraging new deal for the Croatian startup coincides with the conclusion of the second round of funding in the amount of 19.4 million kuna.

The Croatian startup Gideon Brothers has delivered its robots to the leading European logistician, DB Schenker. The value of the job as well as the number of robots Gideon Brothers have put together for the job have not been released.

Matija Kopic, CEO and co-founder of Gideon Brothers, emphasised that this impressive job is a testament to the technological leap the Croatian startup has made.

"Autonomous machines, equipped with visual perception and artificial intelligence will succeed where older technology has lagged behind - it will become ubiquitous in industrial environments. We are incredibly proud to have built a team that has the potential - vision and expertise - to enhance the handling of mateials in closed production and logistics environments," he says.

DB Schenker has previously tested these Croatian robots on commissioning and ordering jobs, speeding thIngs up and allowing employees to focus on more complex tasks. A few weeks after the start of the project, DB Schenker expanded the pilot project by adding a significant number of new points for picking up and delivering cargo.

Kopic points out that this confirms the flexibility of the entire system. Gideon Brothers state that during the first month of the pilot project, the typical distance travelled by each Croatian robot exceeded 26 km per week.

Xavier Garijo, a member of the Contract Logistics Committee at Schenker AG, says the robots have been tested at their facility in Leipzig.

"In an effort to provide clients with strategic advantages in an increasingly complex digital environment, DB Schenker is continuously exploring the possibilities of applying the innovation of visionary start-ups, and opportunities to automate logistics and warehousing operations are the basis for building the next generation supply chain," says Garijo.

As previously stated, the Croatian startup added that this deal coincides with the conclusion of the second round of funding, in which they raised 19.6 million kuna in capital. Gideon's total investment thus increased to 4.83 million euros.

In the second round, Pentland Ventures, NJF Capital and Linic Ltd invested in Gideon, while Hardware Club, Taavet Hinrikus and Ivan Topcic and Luca Ascani seized the opportunity to increase previous investments in the Croatian robotics company.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 28th of October, 2019, one of the founders of McKinsey in Croatia, the former director of the Avenue Mall developer and Marlera golf project has thrown himself into AI. Meet yet another fascinating Croatian startup.

The Croatian startup Cantab Predictive Intelligence (Cantab PI) is the new star of the UK financial industry after demonstrating its ability to perform credit risk assessments based solely on transaction data to banks, even in cases where there is no credit history, which is more accurate than the internal algorithms banks currently have.

Cantab PI, using artificial intelligence (AI), has developed an algorithm used in accordance with the PSD2 regulation, ie open banking, and plans to develop a cloud service that will offer such calculations as software (SaaS) or data service. Interest in AI in finance has been growing since a week ago in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, after one of the top managers in the Atlantic Group, Mladen Pejkovic, announced that this technology began to directly affect Croatia's GDP in 2018.

According to Cantab PI data scientist Matej Jusup, the results of the new algorithm were presented to the public at the Devareni 2019 developer conference in Zagreb, and in a conservative scenario, the accuracy of the algorithm is about 70 percent. In real terms, it grows to 72 percent, and when used optimistically, which means that it has access to all the information that a bank customer has internally, its accuracy is higher than existing banking algorithms, that is, it rises over 75 percent.

"Banks are now switching to open banking, which means that credit ratings will be much easier to calculate, and our algorithm allows you to do it more accurately than banks themselves," says Jusup. He explains that their algorithm, which was developed right here in Croatia, achieves an accuracy similar to bank algorithms already in the conservative scenario, when it analyses only payments. In an optimistic scenario, he states, when demographic data can be retrieved from users, then its accuracy exceeds that of banks.

"Our goal now is to set up a Croatian team to develop a service that we can offer to banks as a service," Jusup says. The director and founder of that Croatian startup, Sinisa Slijepcevic, also confirmed that they are on the lookout for a new product with a lot of international potential at Cantab PI. His biography is as surprising as the product his company developed. To the general public, Slijepcevic is known as the former director of the Polish GTC, which is the developer and owner of Avenue Mall.

Slijepcevic is also one of the founders of the McKinsey branch for Croatia. He was also the manager of the Marler Golf Project in Istria, co-owned by Drazen Ladic, with an investment in excess of 100 million euros. However, all this goes beyond the fact that he holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University, where his professor was Stephen Hawking. Today, in addition to running his own business, he is a professor at the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb.

"Cantab PI is a synthesis of my two passions - science, especially applied mathematics, and business," says Slijepcevic.

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Diana Prpic works on her estate in Brežani near Karlovac in the continental part of Croatia. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of October, 2019, this young farmer took over an OPG several years ago which was initially launched back in 2003 by her grandmother Mara. The creation of a sweet potato spread amusingly called "Batela" turned everything upside down.

"A lot has changed. And actually the thing that has changed the most is way I look for the market. Very quickly, I made my offer to customers on Facebook and today we are followed by more than 13,500 people. They all recognised the level of our hard work, the quality of our products. I have shipping everywhere. Watermelons and strawberries and raspberry products are particularly attractive. There are so many orders that I often stop at a highway intersection and wonder where it goes to Zagreb or Split," Diana recounts for Vecernji List.

"We are always thinking of something new. So, a long time ago we started planting different types of pumpkins and we also have zucchini spaghetti that is particularly interesting to people. She describes how you cut the zucchini and how it comes out onto the dish looking like real spaghetti, and this is just one of the culinary delights that comes from your own garden and that Diana deals with. However, an absolute hit took the main stage with her offer of a spread of sweet potato, a so-called "Batela" that has become very popular since the end of last year, and production is growing month by month, it is being sent even to Australia, and soon to Singapore.

"I experimented with sweet potatoes, cooked them with maple syrup, added chocolate without refined sugar and then some coconut oil. I made 50 jars and put it online. I thought, if it goes, then it goes. Immediately everything sold out. Although I was afraid that the market would not be filled with Batella as an instant hit, the complete opposite happened. The interest in this spread is growing. Batella has literally turned our lives upside down," admits Diana.

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As Slobodna Dalmacija/Braco Cosic writes on the 25th of October, 2019, young innovator Mario Ljubičić from Runovići near Imotski in Split-Dalmatia County managed to win the prestigious Grand Prix award at the 17th Arca International Innovation Fair in Zagreb.

In collaboration with his cousin Ivan Ljubičić, the author of the bicycle software, he won this prestigious award in a competition of more than 200 innovators from across twenty European countries. Mario Ljubičić exhibited his "talking bike", which is as impressive as is the conditions its young creator has put behind it when it comes to potential investors.

Croatian innovation quite clearly knows no bounts, and despite the doom and gloom the media loves to pedal, there is a lot to be proud of in this little but extremely talented little country. This, yet another success story started not from Zagreb, but from the rugged Dalmatian hinterland, more specifically the Imotski region. This young innovator presented his invention and stated quite clearly that although he has had offers from abroad, he wants to stay right where he is - in Imotski.

''I must admit that this is the greatest recognition in my career as an innovator, but also the greatest recognition for the Faust Vrančić Society from Šibenik, through which I went to the Zagreb Fair. I can say that the experts who evaluated the innovation were really delighted with what my cousin Ivan and I presented. With my electric car, I have won gold and first prizes at many trade shows, but this year's "Arca" Grand Prix award is ​​the very top of the top. I was not even aware of the actual importance of this award,'' said the Imotski-based inventor.

''At the fair, I also received specific offers from investors, but my first and basic condition was that if we were already going into bicycle production, that it would need to be done in the Imotski region and that young people from our region should be employed as part of the project. Now I'm going to start making about twenty copies of the "talking bike" and I've already found subcontractors for individual parts. The most important things I do alone and everything else will be assembled here in Runovići,'' concluded Mario Ljubičić.

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Croatia is a little country with some impressive acheivements. From the sporting world to the scientific one and everything in between, there's no denying that Croatia outshines many other countries with its talent. One Croatian company from Zagreb has won an impressive award which just goes to further confirm that Croatian innovation is among the best.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ivan Tominac writes on the 23rd of October, 2019, a Zagreb system integrator confirmed its impressive level of expertise as a long-standing partner of a German company.

The Croatian company King ICT is truly one of the leaders in implementing innovative business solutions, as has now been evidenced by the recognition they rightfully won at the EMEA Summit (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

It is a recognition of the Best Solutions Growth in Europe awarded by Schneider Electric and that award is now firmly in the very deserving hands of this regional integrator system because it has achieved the highest growth at the EU level.

Thus, the Zagreb-based Croatian company reaffirmed its expertise and professionalism, and they take the prestigious Schneider Award, they say, as an additional incentive to continue to provide their clients with even better service and help build a technologically modern and connected future.

King ICT is a longtime partner of Schneider Electric, and the title of Elite justifies the trust of the clients they assist in the implementation of the project, from consulting all the way down the line to the final implementation.

"As an expert in software, infrastructure, networking and technical security, King's team has achieved one of the best results in the category, and we'd like to congratulate them on that," Schneider said of this Croatian company.

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Ledo's ice cream was created in cooperation with Podravka and was launched on the market back in April this year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of October, 2019, Ledo's popular ice cream, Lino Lada, has been named the best ice cream in the world by the International Ice Cream Consortium. The competition was held in Sweden where Ledo's products once again stood out thanks to their creativity, ideas and performance technology. Experts were delighted with the unique shape of the Lino Lada ice cream and the innovative soft dressing, but what made this the best ice cream in the world was the experience of the Lino Lada spread that was successfully transferred onto the ice cream.

As stated, the ice cream was created in cooperation with Podravka and was launched on the market in April this year. The first supplies were then sold out in just a few days, making this ice cream the most sought after dessert of all. Ledo's Lino Lada duo ice cream is a combination of fine hazelnut cream and milk cream, and it's all wrapped in a double soft nougat and milk chocolate topping and is, as such, quite an innovation in the ice cream market. The appearance of the Lino Lada jar is further enhanced by the enjoyment of the ice cream coupled with a favourite creamy spread.

"As Lino Lada has become a favorite brand of cream spreads with a wide variety of flavours, there has been the need to spread this unique flavour to other, related categories like ice cream. It is the innovation and upgrading of what Podravka can do that is the foundation on which we build our success, and we're especially pleased when we're doing in collaboration with our partners, domestic companies. Thus, Podravka initiated the development of Lino Lada ice cream, and the ideal partner for cooperation was Ledo, the leading ice cream producer on the Croatian market. With this collaboration, the unique taste and experience of Lino Lada spreads has been transformed into an icy experience that has delighted consumers around the world, as well as international experts,'' said Vesna Višnić, the director of Podravka's children's food, desserts and snack business program.

"We're extremely proud of this award and the recognition for which Ledo ice cream has been recognised as the best ice cream in the world by the profession, that is, by global independent ice cream producers. Being the best in the world is a great honour, as is the obligation to continue to produce the highest quality ice creams in the future, leading globally with technological solutions, innovations and creativity,'' said Marin Poljak, CEO of Ledo.

Podravka developed its two-colour cream spread way back in 1998 and today, in as many as five flavours, it can be found on the shelves in more than twenty countries worldwide, stretching far beyond Europe and covering all continents. The most popular flavour is still the Lino Lada duo, now available in the form of irresistible ice cream. Podravka continuously monitors the preferences of consumers of cream spreads and strives to offer new flavours as a reward for loyalty to the Lino Lada brand.

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