When it comes to results, Croatia's Include published an impressive 115 percent growth in revenue in the first quarter of the year, and an average selling price growth of almost 40 percent.

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of April, 2019, one of the main stars of the Croatian startup scene, entrepreneur Ivan Mrvoš, is continuing to impress. Just two years after Include's first capitalisation through Funderbeam, recapitalisation is about to happen again, aiming this time at almost ten times the amount. Before today's public announcement of the campaign, Include's main man revealed that his company, which is a top Croatian manufacturer of solar powered benches, is collecting part of the finances through Funderbeam while the other part will be provided by private investors.

"After the successful first round of investment back in 2017, when we raised about 3.5 million kuna with a 30 million kuna valuation, we decided to enter a new round of recapitalisation. We didn't set a fixed amount, but we expect that the investment will be at least 20 million kuna, with the potential to reach approximately 30 million kuna. As for Funderbeam's part of the investment, we're expecting to raise about 10 million kuna through the platform,'' said Include's boss Ivan Mrvoš. At the moment, he has secured about 10 million kuna from the Funderbeam platform and is actively discussing the additional funds with several potential investors, including private individuals and venture capital funds.

"Right now, I can't say which investors are involved, but they're people who have led or are currently leading various Croatian industries, which we consider to be a significant indicator," he pointed out. When asked how much shares in Include now sell for and how much the company is valued at, Include's founder explained that things are a bit different now than they were back in 2017.

"The company has four years of business behind it and some remarkable results have come to fruition, so we decided to hire one of the companies from ''The Big Four'' to do a valuation. What I can say is that it was a very intensive process that lasted for several months, and the company was estimated at 110 million kuna last week,'' says Mrvoš.

"The company ended last year with a positive result, and we also continued things successfully during the first quarter of this year, with 60,000 kuna of net profit," Mrvoš revealed.

The collected money will certainly go into the development of existing markets, but also to conquering new markets.

"We intend to strengthen our presence on existing markets and continue to build a global distribution network. In addition, we're beginning with the development of new products that will be complementary for the existing markets, and intended for those same markets, and we'll also get some more advanced equipment for our development and production activities,'' explained the talented young entrepreneur.

The trading of Include's tokens at Funderbeam was stopped on April the 1st this year due to campaign preparation, and the latest market price is 3.5 euros. The director of Funderbeam Damir Bićanić explained that the price of the shares will not be one euro as they usually are in Funderbeam's campaigns, but higher, meaning more specifically that they'll reflect the company's new valuation.

The leading investor, as was the case in 2017, will be Ivana Šoljan who says that Include will certainly pass at least one recapitalisation, and "hopefully maybe go to the stock market in the future.''

"Mr Ivan Mrvoš and his whole team have advanced tremendously. Organisationally, they did well, they wrote regular reports to investors, they're not late with deliveries, they plan things smartly - they're ready for a new round,'' concluded Šoljan.

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Click here for the original article by Tomislav Pili for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of April, 2019, in the very first NOA store in Dublin, Ireland, this company from Koprivnica, Croatia, sells mobile phones, televisions and mobile phone accessories all under their own brand.

Croatia's successful Hangar18 company from Koprivnica, which has developed its very own brand of mobile phones, NOA, which has a market share in the domestic field immediately behind giants like Samsung and Apple, has opened its first own NOA store.

The first brand store the company has opened is in the Irish city of Dublin, and this Croatian technology company has stated that it plans a further fifteen such stores in Ireland alone. Additionally, over the next three years, Hangar18 plans to open a total of one hundred of its own NOA stores across Western Europe.

Mario Pintar, Marketing Manager at Hangar18, says this enviably successful Croatian company has changed their approach to developing its sales network. In Eastern markets, with the exception of Croatia, and where they have been operating so far, the company does business via distributors, while in the west, he wants to be in direct contact with the company's customers.

"Customers in Eastern Europe buy mobile phones of up to 150 euros, while in the west, due to the better purchasing power, they're buying more expensive devices, and we see a greater room for growth," explained Pintar. He added that the company's expansion initially started a year ago, and intensive work has been going on on for the past six months.

He didn't want to comment on just how much the company invested, nor did he want offer any comment on much they plan to invest in further expansion. According to data from Business Croatia, Hangar18 saw growth from 242 to 137 million kuna from 2013 to 2017, its exports jumped to an impressive 66.7 million kuna, and its net profit rose from 1.3 to 4.8 million kuna. Mario Pintar says that they already have a warehouse over in Ireland and that they're hiring the first workers for it. He says that on average, the company will require three to four employees per store, and potentially even more for sales and management.

"Our colleague Tihana Magdić has been living in Dublin for a long time, so that's why we started with Ireland. She was promoted to country manager, she's well acquainted with the market, and the shopping centre we first entered was a great partner and it was very easy to arrange everything with them,'' Pintar said.

Pintar explained that in the west, Croatia's Hangar18 will compete in the B category of brands, but as the first choice of those who instead of A brands want the Best Buy mobile.

"What sets us apart is the fact that we give customers the functionality of A brand at a fair price, and then the Noa Premium Care warranty covers the first twelve months for damages such as screen breakages and water damage, and our ''after sales support,'' and we open our authorised NOA service in every country we enter,'' explained Pintar.

He added that after Ireland, Croatia's Hangar18 plans to open stores in other European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. However, he noted the fact that they hadn't forgotten about the eastern markets. For example, in Croatia alone, there are fifteen retail outlets where they sell various brands of ICT equipment. "Recently, we've been able to directly export to Russia as a third company from Croatia, which opens opportunities for us in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan,'' concluded Hangar18's Pintar.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for more on business in Croatia, investment in Croatia, products and services from Croatia and much more.

Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

The Croatian company Include from Solin has strengthened its exports, entered the Polish and even the Chilean markets, a new investment round is on its way, and of course greater production and employment will naturally follow that.

As we reported recently, during the first quarter of 2019, this remarkable Croatian company from Solin recorded some excellent export performance, and it seems that Include is just going from strength to strength.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of April, 2019, the amount of orders placed, when compared to just one year ago during the first quarter of 2018, increased by a massive 109 percent to 2.3 million kuna, while Include's total income increased by an equally impressive 115 percent.

"The first quarter is always frozen in our [type of] business. So far, we haven't achieved significant results during Q1, as plenty of markets are still covered in snow, and the first installations take place during the spring. But the first quarter of this year has been the best quarter ever since we've been doing business,'' stated Include's founder and director, Ivan Mrvoš, before going on to reveal everything Include has been busy doing since the beginning of 2019 alone.

This includes a new two-year distribution agreement with Deutsche Telekom, featuring fifty global markets; the sale of 44 Steora smart benches, a move worth more than 1.1 million kuna, and the opening up of the Polish market.

Our recent article on Include's success reports on the fact that these Croatian smart benches have been delivered to numerous other European countries, such as to Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and to Spain. In February, a new order came from Montenegro, and then new doors outside of the European continent opened up to Include, and a new market was ''cracked'', that of the very distant Chile.

"That's how we managed to arrive to the last possible continent. I'm not counting the Antarctic," smiled Mrvoš. The month was completed with the deliveries of 27 smart benches to Greece, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Italy and Hungary. March resulted in orders for a new product - Monna cyclo benches for Dublin.

Include's entrance onto the Chilean market marks a new achievement for the Croatian company, whose products are gradually finding themselves leaving Europe and spreading further and further across the world.

Make sure to stay up to date with Croatian companies, Croatian products and services, doing buisness in Croatia and much more by following our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages.

Click here for the original article by Marta Duic for Poslovni Dnevnik

Can one succeed in doing business on Croatian territory? Yes, one certainly can.

Asteria, a Croatian family company started by Dubravka and Veronika Vuković in the village of Banova Jaruga near Sisak in the continental part of the country, marked its first anniversary of being in business at the end of February 2019.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of April, 2019, this mother and daughter team successfully run their business which involves producing sleepwear, and the combination of Dubravka's long-standing experience in the textile industry and Veronika's knowledge gained about entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek proved to be a winning combination.

"The two of us have always managed to create something together, and last year we had the chance to share that with the world. Our desire is to offer women quality sleepwear, ours is a different look than what is currently on our market, and that's why we decided to go with sleepwear. We want women to feel comfortable but at the same time feel elegant and confident in our clothes,'' explained Veronika Vuković.

Some of the Asteria branded underwear products include classic pyjamas, nightgowns, nightgowns, combos, dresses, kimonos and bathrobes, and fashion accessories such as sleeping masks and cosmetics bags.

"After the initial calculations, we started with the creative part and started working on the first models, there were a lot of attempts, a bunch of models from different fabrics, we played around with it all and tried out what would be the best, and we also asked our acquaintances to see what they liked the best, and soon after, we decided to take advantage of the self-employment incentives and open up an obrt (a type of company). At first, we needed some time because we knew only some of the very basics and not much more, and the biggest challenge were the Croatian state institutions and the vague information we received. We now understand the way they work and it's easier for us to talk to them,'' stated Vuković, reminiscing on Asteria's very beginnings.

The fabrics are mostly purchased from Italy and Germany and from some Croatian companies, and they're both [both domestic and foreign companies] responsible for the designs.

''Our products have been on the market for nine months now, and the web shop has been open for seven months. Special attention is paid to the design of the clothes and the selection of the fabric used in production, and each piece is manually sewn. I can say that we're getting better and better at it. When we started, no one knew about us and yet everything went easily.

Today, customers are already familiar with us and know where to look for our products, and on our web shop every month we have more orders than we had during the previous month. Customers often come back with some positive feedback, and we're particularly happy when they send us a picture of how they wear their clothes and how the clothes look on them,'' said Veronika Vuković, who prepares and delivers the items within four working days. In addition to Asteria's web shop and social networks, their products can also be viewed and purchased at their workshop in Banova Jaruga. Vuković noted that they aren't planning to open a classical type of store, at least for now.

"The type of clothes we make are made by almost nobody in the whole of Croatia. Although there are several Croatian companies that do sell sleepwear, it isn't similar to ours and is primarily different when it comes to the type of fabric being used.

Although these companies and foreign companies selling sleepwear are our competition, we're constantly working on being different to them and to make ourselves known for the variety and the quality of our products. As our greatest achievement, I would point out that customers have begun to recognise our products and recommend us to their acquaintances,'' said Vuković, noting that their current greatest efforts are investing in their proper positioning on the market as high quality garment manufacturers, as well as the expansion of their assortments and the entering into new markets.

"We're still not going to give too much away, but what I will say is that we're preparing stylish dresses, blouses and skirts in daytime, business and evening combinations, everything that a woman needs, and we want to focus more on sales in the EU and in the rest of the world in the future. They're much larger markets than our Croatian market here, and we believe our products have great potential,'' Vuković concluded.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for much more on Croatian businesses, Croatian products and services, and Croatian success stories.

Click here for the original article by Marta Duic for Poslovni Dnevnik

Marko Bratović, an entrepreneur from Kaštelir in Istria, will soon launch a craft tonic and a ginger beer under the Count's Drinks brand. The first 600-litre series is expected around Easter, reports Poslovni.hr on April 7, 2019.

“The idea came spontaneously, through personal experience. My wife Urša wanted to drink ginger beer in pregnancy, and we realised that there was no such beer on our market. We started producing it at home and realised that we could achieve excellent quality and that no one is producing a completely natural, craft tonic. The idea was born, and we started to work on it with the desire to market something completely new, which will win over fans of natural craft drinks and eventually become recognisable,” explains Marko Bratović.

The main ingredient of their premium craft tonic is the bark of the Chinese plant chinchona, which they acquire from Ecuador. The ginger beer gets its flavour thanks to organic ginger with an ecological certificate from Peru, giving the drink its recognisable aroma. Also, explains Bratović, to refine the taste of drinks, they use lemon, lime and orange exclusively from organic production, with citrus fruits coming from domestic producers, mostly from southern Dalmatia.

“We financed the investment with our own money and savings, and with a loan. We have invested about 40,000 euros for now, and most of that amount was spent on the equipment. We did not want to go with the full investment right now, but we will rather wait for the market response to our products. If everything goes according to the plan, the value of the investment will increase, and the production will expand,” says Bratović.

A significant problem was the packaging because it represents almost half of the price of the finished product. They needed 0.2-litre bottles, transparent and suitable for carbonated drinks. The solution was found with a German glass company.

The reason why they opted for the Count's Drinks name lies in the special ingredient of beverages, the so-called Count's water from Count's source in Tolmin in the Slovenian Alps. According to Bratović, the source never dries up, and the water in it is considered to be the elixir of youth, health and longevity.

“We will be the first in Croatia and the wider region to market ginger beer and a tonic from the craft production, without even a trace of the industrial process. These are organic ingredient drinks that are produced in small quantities and by completely natural methods,” explains Bratović.

They also plan to produce an alcoholic ginger beer for lovers of natural, slightly more specific tastes, and natural tonics in various variations with organic ingredients from local producers. “We are mostly targeting the HoReCa sector, but we want to enter some of the better-positioned supermarkets and offer our products to consumers as well. We are still waiting for the wider market response, but so far, we have had several organised tastings, and the reactions were better than expected. After tasting our craft beverages, some people said they could no longer return to industrial variants because this is something different. Exports are definitely planned, wherever possible, first to Slovenia and later beyond,” concludes Bratović.

Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Marta Duić).

More news about Istria can be found in the Lifestyle section.

AMPnet is the best Croatian startup, and it's going to the big final in Krakow, Poland.

As VLM/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of April, 2019, AMPnet's platform focuses on energy cooperatives, an alternative model of sales for electrical energy and the financing of renewable energy sources. Mislav Javor from AMPnet pointed out that the product is now finished, and how their very first clients are knocking at their door.

With the winning project, AMPnet IO d.o.o. was proclaimed as the best Croatian startup this year between nine finalists at the national final of the PowerUp! competition held within the framework of the LEAP Summit, and organised by Invento Capital Partners in Zagreb.

The winning Croatian team will be presented at the Grand Final in Krakow, Poland on May the 21st, where they will compete for large cash prizes of 50,000, 10,000 and 5,000 euros, while the best project will be offered an additional investment of 150,000 euros as well as participation in the prestigious accelerator EIT InnoEnergy Highway, which helps in the transformation of startups, from their early stages of development right up to becoming a successful business venture.

Energy in a new way!

''We're very pleased with this competition organised by Innoenergy together with Invento Capital Partners. We believe that all of the teams have very high quality products, but we're happy that even with such a strong competition, the jury decided on us. We have been developing this product for two years and this victory is one of the moments that confirms that we're on the right track,'' said Javor.

''The PowerUp! competition by Innoenergy's winner, AMPnet, is a team that has a scalable product. Until now, they've shown that they have certain shifts in the market, they have contacts with potential buyers and have managed to attract investors. So, they only need an additional boost to reach the stage from which they can expand across Europe, and hopefully ultimately to the United States,'' said jury member Stevica Kuharski (Fil Rouge Capital).

''I'm truly delighted with the number of quality projects. This was one of the competitions where members of the jury had a difficult job choosing a project that would represent Croatia at the Grand Final in Krakow. What we can do, as a local partner of Innoenergy in Croatia, is to insist that many more of these projects are funded by Innoenergy, regardless of them having not been chosen today. The AMPnet project itself, and the team behind the project, demonstrated the highest degree of readiness, project development and market entrance possibilities,'' said Dalibor Marijanović, founder and partner of Invento Capital Partners, the local HUB in charge of supporting the aforementioned competition in Croatia.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by VLM for Poslovni Dnevnik

For such a small country, the Republic of Croatia boasts a wealth of talent across all fields, from medicine to sport and from science to innovation and invention, Croats have given a huge amount to the rest of the world.

While Zadar's Luka Modrić might be the household name of Croatian sport, and the likes of Nikola Tesla and Mate Rimac might be the Croats best known to the world when it comes to science, technology and innovation, there are many more individuals in Croatia given less exposure who have a lot to offer the world, and on across an extremely varied platform consisting of all fields.

As SibenikIN writes on the 16th of March, 2019, a young woman from the historic Dalmatian city of Šibenik, Anastazija Verović, a student of FESB, along with her colleagues, has designed an innovative new device for helping the blind. Thanks to her creation, Anastazija and her team have received yet another award from Split-Dalmatia County for this project,.

Anastazija Verović, Lucija Visković, Ena Sarajlić and Ana Žunabović, are all Croats in their fifth year of graduates studies in computer science at FESB and they expressed their desire to help both the blind and other partially sighted people.

Their desire led this talented young group of Croats to create the e-Vision project, an intelligent device which functions as a bracelet and allows blind and visually impaired persons to move around in spaces. For this praiseworthy project, they have rightfully received a second award in the amount of 4,000 kuna from Split-Dalmatia County.

Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Blaženko Boban presented the presented the award to the talented group of FESB students as the brains behind the best student entrepreneurial and innovative project, according to a report from Dalmacija News.

The first prize of 5,000 kuna was awarded to the e-Agrar project, and was handed over to another talented group of Croats - Slaven Damjanovic, Martin Pervan, Dražen Pervan and Marko Calić. Otherwise, the obviously highly talented Anastazija is set to graduate computer science at FESB this coming summer.

Make sure to stay up to date on Croatian-made innovation, ideas and technology by following our dedicated Made in Croatia page.

One successful Zagreb company has been exploring outside of the Croatian market and has found a plethora of opportunities and interest on foreign markets.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of March, 2019, thanks to its long tradition, identity, high quality, attractive design and practical accessories, the Zagreb-based company Mediaform has been positioning in Croatia for over twenty whole years as a market leader in the field of the production of top of the range diaries made from some of the highest quality materials.

The company was founded back in 1997 by Nedeljko Šukurma, who is currently working with numerous other companies and designers. They have been selling their company's products for years through retail stores such as Narodne novine, Školske knjige (School books), and others. However, Šukurma didn't want to just stop and stay on the Croatian market alone, but he, with a dose of success and an excellent idea, decided to dip his toes into foreign markets.

"Over the past few years, we've been trying to break into the European market in the segment of office and school materials with notebooks called Keyboard in two groups. The first group are premium notebooks - such as Moleskine, Lanybook and the like, while the other group are school notebooks. The Keyboard notebooks were successfully sold in the bookstores of the former Algoritam company, but even after its closure, customers were still asking after Mediaform's notebooks,'' explained Šukurma.

This was just another incentive for Šukurma and his Zagreb company to try out their products overseas where his company came across very positive reactions and a lot of praise.

"To be able to position yourself successfully on the global market in a segment that has long been covered by world-renowned brands, you need to do something innovative, something interesting and specific. With our new collection of Keyboard notebooks, we have been able to attract a great level of interest from foreign distributors and bookstores. On the front page, the notebooks are simple and minimalistic, but the design is impressive. The letters on the embossed, styled keyboard on the notebook's covers form an inspirational message - Handwriting beats a keyboard, which promotes handwriting as one of the timeless ways through which people can express their personalities,'' stated the founder of this successful Zagreb-based company which is clearly going from strength to strength.

Therefore, in addition to the business side of things, this Zagreb company's notebooks also feature an aesthetic function that will attract anyone who is used to using laptops and the like. For two consecutive years, Zagreb's Mediaform has been expanding its product group at the world-renowned and specialised Paperworld fair in Frankfurt, Germany. At the end of last year, they first exhibited their products at the Insights-X fair in Nuremberg for the German market and at the Big Buyer fair in Bologna for the Italian market.

"At the last Paperworld fair in Frankfurt, the organisers officially drew attention to our Keyboard notebooks. At this fair, there's also a separate space that acts as an exhibition gallery called Trends. When it comes to [exhibiting there] the fair organiser selects the most innovative and creative articles that should have particular emphasis drawn to them, with the focus being placed on excellence. Our Keyboard notebook found itself among this group of the world's top manufacturers,'' said Mediaform's owner.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for more on Croatian products, services and inventions. If it's just Zagreb you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow.

Click here for the original article by Lucija Spiljak for Poslovni Dnevnik

Flippers, diving suits and underwater rifles produced in a small workshop at Palmotićeva St. in Zagreb by Daniel Pintarić and his two colleagues, Marko Mišković and Vanja Peleš, are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. United States, Japan, Libya, Spain are just some of the 15 countries in which the Subcraft diving equipment company operates, producing more than 400 flippers per year, as many diving suits, as well as a dozen rifles. They launched their business five years ago and quickly gained international recognition, reports Večernji List on March 1, 2019.

“Our flippers are used by top divers, world champions, as well as ordinary divers. For example, Lidija Lijić used the Subcraft flippers when she won the gold medal at the world diving championships,” says Pintarić.

Their trademark is that they use the highest quality carbon, in combination with nanotechnology. They have also recently released new, high-tech flippers "GNP Nanotechnology", which are produced by the vacuum infusion technology from the AAA Toray carbon obtained from Japan. With just 180 grams, they are the lightest flippers in the world, which is important because that means that the diver is faster.

The diving suits they produce are tailored as to retain the maximum body heat. They will soon present the Rushgard version, designed to protect divers from the sun while floating on the surface of the water. Pintarić has been a passionate diver since his childhood, and that is why he sees the job as a hobby which also brings him nice earnings.

“I am very proud to hear that someone in our flippers swam with a big white shark seven metres in length or that someone used our diving suit to find treasure at the bottom of the sea. Of course, there are also top diving competitors, and it is a pleasure to see them use the Subcraft equipment,” says Pintarić.

Given that almost the entire production is sold abroad, a logical question to ask him is whether he has any plans to move the company overseas. “Never. I was born here, and I created my life here, so I will stay,” Pintarić says.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Hana Ivković).

More news on Croatian entrepreneurs can be found in the Made in Croatia section.

In the group of three are the partners of the popular Croatian gaming series - Intel, AMD, Razer, Corsair and Steel Series, as was stated by Igor Gajić.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of February, 2019, Starpoint Gemini, one of the most successful Croatian gaming series with more than 600,000 titles sold to date, has begun to sell its third installment at the world's largest online gaming store Steam.

In their home studio, LGM Games stated that they had received an enviable pre-registration number for the new game within just the first twelve hours of its release.

Igor Gajić from LGM Games said that Starpoint Gemini 3 is their most ambitious project so far.

"With the new title we want to move the boundaries, both in quality and market success, and our expectations are great," said Gajić. He added that the RPG space game, which allowed the player to enjoy the world of Captain Jonathan Bold, worked with a team of fifteen experts, and was additionally assisted by a further five external experts.

Although the title states the number three, this is actually the fourth game in this series. Gajić stated that after Starpoint Gemini 1, which he admitted had a "shaky start", Starpoint Gemini 2 was released five years ago. It is the best-selling title in the series so far. Gajić confirmed to Poslovni Dnevnik that he has sold more than 400,000 copies. Two years ago, the Croatian studio LGM Games, which once featured its full name, Little Green Men Games, issued a spin-off franchise called Starpoint Gemini Warlords. This title was also very well sold, impressively selling more than 200,000 copies.

"The Dvojka and Warlords hits are among the genre fans, so, upon these successes we have created a very stable base from which we can build a solid foundation for a new game," said Gajić.

The previous title in the series, Warlords, had an excellent rating on Metacritica, of 73 percent, and just two years ago when it was released on Steam, it won the gold medal as Early Access Grads Best of 2017.

According to Business Croatia, Intercorona, through which LGM Games operates, grew from four to eighteen employees from 2013 to 2017, with revenues rising from 840,500 to 4.86 million kuna.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for more info on this Croatian gaming series and much, much more.

Click here for the original article by Darko Bicak for Poslovni Dnevnik