As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of September, 2019, Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac's company, Greyp Bikes, has managed to raise nearly one million euros (7.4 million kuna) from interested investors through a public offering of a digital token they launched on Monday, which we reported on recently.

Naturally, the popular company was expecting good results, according to Philip Nendl, project manager at Greyp Bikes, but they didn't by any stretch of the imagination expect that in the first 48 hours of launching the campaign, which is still a novelty in Croatia and around the world, they'd already ''have'' 2000 investors, half of which are from here in Croatia.

The greatest level of interest lies in the fact that the new investment model, so-called crowdinvesting, anyone can become a shareholder in Mate Rimac's electric bike company, of which Porsche owns an 11 percent stake, for a minimum investment of 100 euros.

The investment is managed through the German Neufund token issuing platform, which uses this new model (Equity Token Offering - ETO), that is, shares in a particular company through blockchain technology.

Since the Berlin-based platform has recently been licensed by regulatory agencies in Liechtenstein and Germany, making it the first legally regulated blockchain platform to make investments for the "ordinary people", Mate Rimac's company is the first company in the Republic of Croatia and indeed worldwide to launch a campaign through them with public token offerings.

Platform investors, as Nendl explains, don't have to be accredited or have a broker to invest, they just have to leave their information. Once identified, the investor is credited with the purchase of a token, after which they are entitled to participate in a fourteen-day private sale in which all pre-registered investors receive a 10 percent discount.

For a minimum stake of 100 euros, the investor will receive about 16 tokens because the value of one token is 0.16187 euros, and one million tokens represents one share, according to a report from Jutarnji list.

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

As Filip Pavic/Novac writes on the 20th of September, 2019, Greyp Bikes, an electric bike company owned by Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, which is also the sister company to the famed Rimac Automobili, is launching a digital token public offering.

More specifically, starting on Monday, September the 23rd, Greyp is launching a crowdfunding campaign in which any interested investor, with a minimum stake of 100 euros, can become a stakeholder in Mate Rimac's Greyp Bikes and stand by the side of giants such as Porsche, which holds an eleven percent stake there. Mate Rimac's company notes that the investor thus exercises the right to vote in the company's management decisions and has the right to the payment of dividends.

As Filip Nendl, project manager at Mate Rimac's Greyp, explained, their public offering of tokens, namely equity token offering (ETO), is among the first such of fundraising models in the whole world. It's not a classic listing on the stock market because it is done through blockhain technology, but neither is the ICO (initial coin offering) version of crowdfunding in the crypto-world, something that has been extremely popular in recent years.

Namely, unlike an ICO, in which the investor doesn't enter into any sort of legal relationship with the company, with the ETO model, the investor becomes a shareholder of the company and as such, exercises certain rights. Therefore, investors in Greyp cannot be as anonymous like investors in an ICO can.

The procedure works in several stages. The first step is to identify a potential investor on the German Neufund platform where said would-be investor will have to leave their information.

The platform is similar to the well known Kickstarter, where, after a white listing process in which investors will express their interest, or pre-register for the purchase of unbound tokens, a private sale will start in which only they will be able to participate. Those who participate in the private purchase of tokens earn a ten percent discount. If all the tokens are not sold for private purchase after two weeks, the public sale of the tokens begins.

In this way, Greyp, whose current valuation is an impressive 45 million euros, aims to raise five million euros in investments. Thus, in addition to euros, the investor will be able to pay in Ether cryptocurrency, and in the same cryptocurrency a dividend will be paid out. There are only 30 stocks available, with one share equivalent to one million tokens valued at 0.161870 euros. The minimum investment is, as previously mentioned, 100 euros.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more information on Mate Rimac and his companies and much more.

Whatever car this top secret project between Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac and car giant Hyundai is set to produce in the end, the fruit of the cooperation between the two will only be produced in a very limited series.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/VLM writes on the 17th of September, 2019, Hyundai is working on a limited-edition sports car with Mate Rimac, the US-based CarBuzz reported after speaking with the head of research and development at the huge Korean company.

Back in May this year, Hyundai and Kia announced plans to invest an enormous 80 million euros in this Croatian company based in Sveta Nedelja near Zagreb, and in return, they should receive assistance in developing at least two electric vehicles.

Dr. Albert Biermann said it was still too early to talk about the details, but he noted one thingm and that was what has already been mentioned. This top secret project with Mate Rimac will see the end result produced in a very limited series.

He also mentioned that he had recently visited Rimac's headquarters in Croatia and that he was satisfied with their relationship, which he described as very fruitful.

''The level of technology with Rimac is very high. This is in line with our belief that nothing is impossible,'' said Biermann.

According to earlier rumours, the Hyundai and Rimac sports car will be a production version of last year's Genesis Essentia concept, but Biermann did not want to go into details when asked about the matter. He said they set a deadline for presenting the new car and were in no hurry because they wanted to do everything absolutely right.

"I can only tell everyone that they will be pleasantly surprised," Biermann said encouragingly.

CarBuzz also writes that Hyundai is currently working on an RM20 electric race car with Rimac.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

Although Croatia's shining star of business, Mate Rimac, has some incredible achievements under his belt, he says that despite all of his barely comprehensible success over the last decade, he still looks at everything as if it were just beginning.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of September, 2019, more than 500 developers from around the world, as well as some of the most interesting topics from the programming community arrived in Tuhelj in continental Croatia for the Dev Days conference, RTL reports.

Croatian IT experts and innovators, including Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, shared their respective success stories, as well as all of the numerous obstacles they came face to face with on their journey to their end goals.

"We went to work on a car in a country that had never made a car, none of us knew how to make a car. We had no idea what we were doing. We were all making mistakes and that was OK because we were open about it. You slip up, you screw things up, but you also learn something from that. That's important,'' stated Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of the now internationally famous Rimac Automobili when in conversation with RTL Danas (Today).

As previously stated, Mate Rimac's success has been unprecedented. The young boy from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was curious about the world turned that curiosity into drive and eventually enormous success, in a very short period of time. Having built super cars that are made right here in Croatia and desired across the globe, Mate Rimac is a living, breathing example that yes, contrary to popular belief, you can succeed in Croatia, if you want it badly enough and are willing to match that desire with hard work.

Continuing to put his past and continued success to the back of his mind and vowing to view things as if he was just beginning obviously keeps this talented entrepreneur grounded in his visions and plans.

"We have to build the company to go from small-scale manufacturers to large-scale production. We're already at 600 employees, we're building a new factory. There are many plans, but we have to put this new car on the market. We have only just started," Rimac told RTL.

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

September 14, 2019 - Why does Croatia have no car industry to speak of? Is there any potential? That man Mate Rimac thinks so. A look at what is happening in Slovakia. 

The Facebook post which has made me smile the most this month so far came from Mate Rimac. The electric car supremo was celebrating the latest success of his Greyp bike:

The Greyp G6 is the world’s most innovative e-mountainbike. Officially. Designed and made by 70 girls and boys in some little place called Sveta Nedelja in Croatia. Enjoy it all!

I have met Rimac three times and he has always been very complimentary about TCN. The last occasion was at the recent Entrepreneurial Mindset conference in Zagreb, where he was kind enough to come over and say hi to his 'favourite fat Brit'. It does not take long to be in his company until you are infected by his positivity and his almost childlike enthusiasm for what he is doing and achieving. One can only imagine how you process that incredible success in such a short space of time, but young Rimac comes across as very grounded and focused. And he really does wonder at the ability of 70 girls and boys in a small town in Croatia and their ability to design and make the most innovative e-mountainbike in the world. 

As just one of their products... 

Listening to Rimac speak about his entrepreneurial journey was arguably one of the highlights of the conference for all, but as his very impressive presentation went on, I found myself asking the question - what if we replaced the word 'Rimac Automobili' with 'Republic of Croatia'?

Rimac was working out of a garage as recently as 2010, not an unfair symbol of the Croatian economy right now. With some great ideas, innovation, dedication, persistence and 48 hours a day of hard work, 14 days a week, that garage has been exchanged for something altogether more impressive, as you can see above. Is there a way that the Republic of Croatia could emulate the Rimac trajectory? 

In just 9 years, that garage has expanded considerably. Is there a component which could be injected into the Croatian economy which could push it in the same direction, if not to the same levels of success, then at least somewhere on the way?

A country with impressive and achievable goals such as Rimac Automobili has set itself? 

Because if a tiny company can go from nothing to being a global leader in 9 years, why can a country not follow suit in certain aspects, especially if it has support and open doors. 

Croatia 2.0. A country looking forward, not back, with defined goals. The Rimac garage of 2010 will see quite an upgrade by 2021.  

And so began the most thought-provoking part of the Rimac presentation - the lack of a Croatian car industry and the success of neighbouring countries with their automotive industries. 

 A look at how the automotive industry directly contributes to GDP in neighbouring countries. 

And it not just the factories which make the cars, but the hundreds (from memory he said 500) of companies in Slovakia which produce parts for those vehicles. Jobs all over the country.  

A map of the automotive industry in Europe. Guess which country is missing out? Sales for Rimac cars may start at $1 million for Concept_One, but they have produced less than 20 cars in total so far, as far as I am aware.  

According to Rimac, Slovakia's exports of cars and parts ($22 billion) exceeds Croatia's entire foreign exports ($17.2 billion). 

Slovakia versus Croatia over time.

Tiny Slovenia to the west of Croatia, with double Croatia's exports, including $4 billion from the automotive industry. 

And yet, due to the stunning success of one small company in Sveta Nedelja, the perception of Croatian as a car-producing country is one of global excellence.

For a boy working out of a garage just a few years ago, Rimac has attracted some pretty awesome investors in his company, including Porsche and Hyundai. And their numbers combined dwarf Croatia's entire GDP. 

Rimac also looked at the Estonian example, where their digitalisation excellence has transformed the economy and made it a digital and innovation hub. Just putting public administration online has saved the equivalent of 2% of GDP, as we learned in Lessons from Estonia: Farewell Uhljebistan, Welcome to the Future? 

And like Slovakia, Estonia is outperforming Croatia. in recent years. Both Slovakia and Estonia have seen their economies having to adapt from socialism to capitalism. Their leaps ahead of Croatia have come in the last five years, not the last 25, a recent phenomenon. 

The car industry for Slovakia, digitalisation and innovation for Estonia. What is Croatia's strategy and route to success?

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic FINALLY paid a visit to the Rimac Automobili factory in late June this year. 

"The key to success in the automobile industry is a country's strategy and vision of what it wants to achieve. I believe that now is the right time for Croatia to join the so-called third wave of investments in the car industry because we missed out on that opportunity in the last ten years," said Rimac.

He said that the first investment wave in the car industry caught the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, the second caught again Slovakia as well as Romania, while the third one could include Croatia, in which all of his partners were interested as were representatives of Hyundai and Porsche. 

Will anything happen? Can Croatia move out of that 2010 garage and take advantage of the opportunity? Can it work with and build on the success of one small company whose outstanding success has put the Croatian car industry on a global level despite only producing less than 20 cars? If one small company can bring in over 100 million euro of investment from the likes of Porsche and Hyundai, what is the potential for the Republic of Croatia, not only to produce cars, but also starting other businesses to produce the various parts all over the country?

Wouldn't it be nice to have a major electic car production facility in the country which is home to the birthplace of Nikola Tesla, something inspired by the man whose 9-year journey from a car in a garage has made Croatia a global superstar in an industry it did not have a decade ago?

You can watch the Mate Rimac presentation in full below.

For the latest news on Mate Rimac, follow the dedicated TCN page.

When it comes to entrepreneurial ideas, attracting investment and indeed attracting the interest of massive industry like automotive production, there is no better person than Mate Rimac. This innovative man who was created from humble upbringings in Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is without a doubt Croatia's most inspiring success story.

Who better, then, to offer their vast experience and knowledge to the Croatian Technical Culture Community?

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of September, 2019, the newest member of the Croatian Technical Culture Community is the famous innovator and entrepreneur Mate Rimac, the owner of Rimac Automobili, and he will serve as a member of the Supervisory Board within the umbrella organisation.

Thus, with his enormous amount of talent, experience and knowledge, he will support the work of Ivan Vlainić, the president of the community, and the first person who, way back in 2006, as his mentor at the national innovation competition, recognised Mate Rimac's glimmering potential. Rimac will also work to help improve the processes required for project implementation.

"I'm personally making myself available as a consultant and one with real-life experience. I'm sure that together we can make a big leap forward and help people in the whole complex process from the bare idea to the realisation of a project. A valuable idea only makes sense if there's added value and that the product that will also create new jobs. This way, innovation can greatly help the economy and raise people's standards,'' said Mate Rimac, explaining that the aforementioned community has put a very welcome spring back in the step of many young people when it comes to the development of their ideas.

According to Vlainić, Mate Rimac will help develop new programs and projects that will raise the quality of education for children and young people and lifelong education to an even greater level, and he will also play a role in discovering new talent.

"It takes ten years of dedicated work to put an idea into action. With my advice, I can help ensure that innovative solutions in all areas of technical culture reach their much-needed investors," Rimac concluded.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

Mate Rimac and his company Rimac Automobili are continuing to succeed in placing Croatia somewhere else on the map outside of the sunshine and sea bubble.

With his company having secured investment from the likes of Porsche, drawn the attention of Bugatti, and with him having drawn up a step by step plan to show the Croatian Government just how to actually attract investment and interest from the automotive industry, this unassuming man from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has become somewhat of a phenomenon. Rightly so.

His super cars, the C_One and C_Two, are admired across the world, and they're made right here in Croatia, in a factory in Sveta Nedelja near Zagreb. Not bad for a country which seems to want to do everything in its power to make it as difficult as possible for budding entrepreneurs, sending them instead abroad with a disdain for red tape to pitch their ideas and make their money.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 8th of September, 2019, Rimac Automobili has posted a video on the company's YouTube channel in which the safety of the beautiful new C_Two model is tested by the use of a popular crash test.

The video shows the C_Two prototype just before a frontal collision, but also a number of others, so it can be easily concluded that more than one of Rimac's vehicles has been ''sacrificed'' so far.

''Mate always says: This is a marathon, not a sprint race. The C_Two is undergoing a brutal crash test program and hundreds of other tests as part of its global approval. We decided to take you on this journey and show you everything. This is just a little glimpse into the future, stay tuned for more development-related content,'' the comment says in the YouTube video.

Watch the video here:

In an official statement, Rimac Automobili has stated that it will start production in 2020.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia pages for more information on Mate Rimac and his creations, and much more on Croatian companies, entrepreneurs, innovation and products.

Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac's famed company Rimac Automobili has secured an increase in investment from Porsche, seeing Porsche raise its stake in the company to 15.5 percent.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of September, 2019, back in June 2018, the giant German sports car maker purchased a 10 percent stake in Rimac Automobili. Increasing Porsche's stake now strengthens their already established partnership.

As Porsche increases the range of its electrified models, the partnership they have with Rimac Automobili will leverage what Rimac's enviable expertise in vehicle electrification, including powertrains, batteries, motors and inverters means in the automotive industry.

"Porsche has been following the positive developments from Rimac for a year," stated Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Porsche AG. "It quickly became apparent to us that Porsche and Rimac could learn a lot from each other. We believe in Mate Rimac and his company, so now we've increased our stake and expanded our collaboration in battery technology."

This Croatian entrepreneur's journey from his garage to incredible global recognition is an inspiring story of success that has been achieved in less than a decade, and in a country like Croatia, which isn't known for being the land of hope and glory for budding entrepreneurs. Today, in partnership with the full spectrum of high-performance car manufacturers, his team of 600 people work alongside him to create some of the fastest and most exciting electric road vehicles in the world.

"One of the most important milestones in our history has been to win Porsche as a partner. The fact that Porsche is now increasing its stake is the best confirmation of our cooperation and the basis for an even closer relationship," said the company's founder and CEO Mate Rimac.

''We're just at the very beginning of our partnership - and our high expectations have already been fulfilled. We have many ideas that we want to bring together in the future. The key is to create a win-win situation for both partners and add value to our end customers by developing exciting electric models.''

Increasing Porsche's stake in Rimac Automobili will contribute to the rapid pace of this company's overall development, which includes a significant increase in the company's production.

In addition to designing, developing and manufacturing advanced technologies for a variety of high-performance car brands, Rimac Automobili is currently completing its C_Two car development ahead of production in 2020.

The car will undergo an intensive testing program as part of type approval for distribution across all of the world's markets.

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

Mate Rimac is one of the more famous and much more positive entrepreneurial stories from Croatia. While setting up a business here is no easy feat, regardless of what you're doing, Mate Rimac's inspiring story of a curious child-turned-adult who never gave up despite the infamous red tape of the Croatian state is enough to put a smile on anyone's face.

Echoing the great Nikola Tesla and having firmly placed Croatia on the map for something else other than tourism, sunshine and the Adriatic sea, Rimac's innovative ideas go from strength to strength. From incredible vehicles like the C_One and C_Two to Greyp bikes and more, this Croatian entrepreneur from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been a light in the dark for potential investment from the automotive industry in Croatia.

Providing the Croatian Government with his step by step guide to attractive investment from an industry, such as the automotive one, which has all but bypassed Croatia for fear of the endless and draconian bureaucracy and dreadful investment stories, this extremely talented man never stops.

His company, (which isn't the famed Rimac Automobili this time) doesn't stop either, and it has now launched two more brand new e-bicycles onto the market.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Goran Jungvirth writes on the 4th of September, 2019, at this year's EUROBIKE Friedrichshafen Show (September 4-7) Mate Rimac's company Greyp Bikes unveiled two new e-bikes.

''GreypG5 is finally out'', the company stated on social media, boasting that the e-bike was made up of some of the absolute best parts from the cycling world.

At the aforementioned German trade show, they also introduced a ''limited edition'' GreypG6X model that was ''made up of only the finest parts'', which include Öhlins forks and rear shock absorbers, carbon wheels and Magura brakes, as well as wireless seat positioning - Greyp's so-called  ''#smartass technology''.

"And they say there is no such thing as a #hyperbike ...", the company wrote sarcastically.

Watch a video of Rimac's Greyp Bikes here:

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia page for more information on Mate Rimac's incredible business ventures and Croatian-made products.

Imagine being thoughtless enough to be able to steal a state of the art Greyp bike belonging to Mate Rimac's company and actually think you'd gotten away with it?

There are thieves, and then there are thieves. There are two categories of thief, one category is for the likes of the great train robber, and for those who find genius ways of getting into cash machines to remove the contents. The other category is reserved for petty thieves who leave their fingerprints everywhere and decide to commit their crime of choice under the watchful eye of Big Brother.

It seems that a thief of the latter category decided to have a go at stealing one of Rimac's famous Greyp bicycles, apparently entirely unaware that the vehicles are equipped with not only a GPS system, but with cameras, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 12th of August, 2019, Mate Rimac's creation, the Grejp bike, is equipped with GPS and cameras.

''We knew exactly where it was, we even watched a police officer come for him,'' wrote Mate Rimac on his Facebook account, likely amused by the lack of thought involved in this clearly not very seasoned thief's mind.

''The moral of the story: Don't mess with Greyp Bikes,'' Rimac wrote on Facebook, as 24sata reported.

Croatia's top entrepreneur Mate Rimac posted on Facebook that they found the Greyp bike belonging to his company that was stolen a few months ago in Germany.

The Greyp Bikes' bicycle was stolen by a thieves at event in over Germany and they have now been identified and apprehended thanks to the modern technology this Croatian bike boasts.

''The thief stole the G6 at one of the first events we presented it at (in Germany). Now, a few months later, the bike was online again for the first time. Being equipped with GPS and cameras, we knew exactly where it was. We even watched a police officer come for him. The moral of the story: Don't mess with Greyp Bikes,'' Mate Rimac wrote.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and Made in Croatia pages for more information on Croatian companies, entrepreneurs, products and services.