April the 30th, 2022 - The highly successful and by now very well known Croatian company Microblink is set to hire even more people throughout this year, it is also planning further expansion.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, one of the leading domestic high-tech companies, the Croatian company Microblink, which operates globally developing solutions on artificial intelligence (AI), is accelerating its business momentum this year and expects revenue growth of 50 percent and the hiring of more than 450 employees, the company said in a recent statement.

"Over the past year, we've transformed the company into a global technology enterprise with a New York office and clients around the world. We also undertook rebranding and developed a lot of tools to help identify the needs of our users,'' said the global vice president of Microblink for operations and director for Croatia Igor Strejcek.

He stressed that the Croatian company Microblink's overall vision is to enable the wide global use of AI, with the further development of their AI platform for which they want to be the ‘AI Power House’ and perhaps one day see it become a separate part of the company itself.

''It's quite difficult to say whether this will all pan out by the end of this year or next year, but we're on the right track and we're heading in that direction,'' added the global vice president for engineering of AI, Matija Ilijas.

Microblink's AI platform, he added, significantly speeds up and automates the process of developing and delivering AI solutions, with a strong focus placed on data security and protection, and it has so far developed more than 50 advanced AI models running on more than 100 million devices and on average 40 percent more quickly than on competing Google or Apple solutions.

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April the 15th, 2021 - The Croatian Microblink company has been one that has made headlines for all of the most positive reasons of late, showcasing yet another shining example of Croatian entrepreneurial skills and the drive and determination to keep going.

As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes, the Croatian Microblink, a domestic software company that has developed the fastest mobile document scanner in the entire world and received (individually) the third largest startup investment in all of Croatia, has announced that it has artificial intelligence technology that is 50 percent faster than that used by both Apple and Google.

''The basis of the company's success is an advanced AI platform that is fully developed in the Republic of Croatia, and whose components in various tests which have been undertaken show that they're the best in the world. One of the components of this AI ​​platform is the execution of neural networks on a mobile device, and the Croatian Microblink performs this process 50 percent faster than similar platforms of the largest global companies such as Apple and Google,'' Microblink announced.

Jurica Cerovec, the global executive director of Microblink for technology, says that they have been developing artificial intelligence technology since way back in 2012, and the one that makes them better than Apple and Google since back in 2015.

''We've been developing the AI ​​platform for mobile devices since the very beginning, and in 2012 alone we had a machine learning team that was focused on how to make the best use of cameras on smartphones, in addition to mere photography,'' explained Cerovec, adding that deep neural networks began to be used directly on mobile devices in 2015.

''It was at a time when others were using this technology on large servers. In many ways, we were among the first in the world, which enabled us to enjoy the current position in that we're really one step ahead of global competition,'' said Cerovec.

The company, co-founded by Damir Sabol, has also announced that it is entering a new phase of development.

The Croatian Microblink plans to further accelerate the development of its advanced computer vision platform, which is based on artificial intelligence. It is also moving to commercialise its existing and new products for a range of industries, with the goal of doubling revenue in the coming years.

Igor Strejcek, Microblink's director for Croatia and the company's global vice president of operations, pointed out that their software is used by more than a million people every day. He stated that today they're in a position to have globally competitive products, a state-of-the-art platform that allows them to develop new products and scale the business.

''We have a development team for AI which is among the best in the world and is an excellent position for the exchange of knowledge among teams working in both Croatia and New York. That gives us the right to be very ambitious in our plans,'' assured Strejcek.

Microblink manufactures software for the rapid digitisation of various types of personal documents and the automation of data entry in a range of industries, particularly in the financial and telecommunications industries. Strejcek noted that in order to realise their ambitious new plans, they must double the number of experts they have on board.

This Croatian company currently has 111 full-time employees, and more than 50 new people joined them last year alone. Strejcek said he will continue to strengthen the artificial intelligence team, which is currently among the strongest in all of Europe with 70 people, and will look for new employees in other parts of the company as well.

Most of the employment is related to the office here in Zagreb, which will remain the main development centre for AI technology, and in expanding in the global market, they also rely on their office across the Atlantic over in New York.

''We can see room for growth in the development and implementation of our AI platform into new products for industries that are rapidly digitising. For example, in the development of document authentication products and the simplification of the remote authentication process, thus completely eliminating the need for physical contact between users and service providers. Microblink's technology will enable the protection of privacy in such a way that the data remains at all times only on the user's mobile phone,'' concluded Strejcek.

For more on Croatian companies, check out Made in Croatia.

January the 13th, 2021 - Croatian companies are becoming more and more recognised and respected across the world, and the Croatian company Microblink, headquartered in Zagreb, is just one of them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the end of a series of successes of Croatian technology companies in 2020 was made by the roatian company Microblink with the investment of the Boston investment company Silversmith Capital Partners, which invested 60 million US dollars in Microblink for a minority stake, making the domestic company's market valuation exceed one billion kuna.

Microblink is a world leader in the field of computer vision based on artificial intelligence (AI), and many applications use its technology to use a mobile phone camera to replace manual data entry.

Their software products are used by several hundred million users in about 70 countries. In 2020, despite the coronavirus crisis, the Croatian company Microblink ended with a 36% increase in sales revenue with an increase in the number of employees, which now numbers more than 100, and with a new investment board with Sri Rao, a Silversmith partner, and Darren Bassman, co-founder of BlinkReceipt, who became the CEO of Microblink.

''The Microblink technology platform enables intelligent use of computer vision such as account scanning (BlinkReceipt), personal documents (BlinkID) and payment data (BlinkCard). BlinkReceipt extracts and identifies data at the level of the SKU (Central Control Unit) from the real-time accounts of hundreds of traders and millions of SKUs. There's a huge opportunity in this category and we're going to continue to invest in it,'' said Darren Bassman.

As this is the first time that external capital has entered Microblink, and for Silversmith it was the first time they invested in a Croatian company, the general partner in Silversmith, now a member of the Board of Microblink, Sri Rao, revealed to what the plans going forward are.

Why Microblink?

Microblink has brought together one of the world’s leading technology teams focused on data science and computer vision. This talented group has developed a platform that unlocks real-world AI and machine learning applications that are now used by hundreds of millions of end users, who collectively scan billions of documents each year to save time and money. The company is addressing a large, growing market and we look forward to working with a team that continues to develop customer-focused products that solve problems for companies in a variety of industries.

What benefits does partnering with Silversmith Capital Partners bring to Microblink?

Silversmith is focused on partnering with profitable companies like Microblink with high growth, run by their founders. Focusing on products focused on product growth as a market entry strategy allows us to leverage our experience and our networks as a complement to the management teams we support. Microblink has built a world-class engineering organisation and technology platform, and the partnership with Silversmith will help the company accelerate growth in key business areas, including product development, market entry and team expansion. We're long-term oriented investors and will work with the company to invest in a team, product and market-going organisation to enable sustainable growth in the future.

After the partnership with the Croatian company Microblink, will you start a deeper study of the Croatian IT scene, considering that Microblink is the first Croatian IT company in which you have invested?

We're always looking for exciting growing companies with market leading products in our key areas of focus. We're also discovering that there are more and more of them outside of the Silicon Valley, and this is a trend we have long believed in. We enjoy discovering great talents on the Croatian technology scene.

You state that Silversmith’s mission is to partner and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. We've seen that technology, ie digitalisation and digital transformation, and healthcare are the most important industries, which in 2020 experienced additional growth due to the global crisis. How has this crisis affected Silversmith, this investment and results?

2020 was certainly a unique and challenging year on so many levels. In response to the crisis, there has been an acceleration of digital transformation around the world. What would take years to move, happened in a mere few months. We've seen this through the prism of our portfolio companies. Some of them were already remote organisations, and others had to move out of the office, while taking care of the health and safety of their teams. The profitable nature of these companies has allowed them to weather the storm, and the need for digital solutions due to the pandemic has allowed some companies to accelerate their growth.

Technology and health will continue to serve as key components of economic recovery even after the end of the pandemic. Our focus on growing, profitable companies means that every business is well positioned to address new opportunities. Across the portfolio in 2020, we saw 43 completed acquisitions, a 20 percent increase in employees, a 30 percent increase in average income, and four investment exits (full and partial).

How many professional investors do you gather together? How much has Silversmith collected since its founding back in 2015?

We have 22 professional investors. Since its inception, we have raised 460 million US dollars in the first fund in 2015, 670 million dollars in the second in 2018, and 880 million dollars in 2020. In the last five years, we've invested in 27 companies in the technology and health segment, with an emphasis primarily placed on supporting long-term growth.

What are the goals and plans for 2021?

Our goals for 2021 will be similar to those at the time the company was founded - finding and partnering with the best entrepreneurs in the technology and healthcare sector and working with them to expand and develop their business.

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December 16, 2020 - Damir Sabol and his co-founders Izet Ždralović and Jurica Cerovec discuss the Microblink expansion to the US market and beyond. 

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Microblink recorded 36 percent sales growth and secured an investment from Boston-based Silversmith Capital Partners that has invested in companies such as Webflow, ActiveCampaign, and Appfire.

Two years after securing a $6 million investment for their spinoff company Photomath, Damir Sabol and his co-founders Izet Ždralović and Jurica Cerovec have exclusively confirmed an investment of over HRK 370 million by the US growth equity fund Silversmith Capital Partners.

Damir explains for Netokracija.hr how the cooperation came about:

"In fact, it all happened surprisingly fast. Their approach and culture are quite similar to ours, and more importantly, they understand our business, products, and technology very well. They invest because they see the potential of our development and growth in an even bigger world organization. We believe that we will work well with them because their focus is on good products and customers. From them, we can certainly gain expertise in managing and organizing global functions, product development for the US market, and expanding sales in the US and other markets."

Although most of the public knows about Microblink and their technology primarily through their application that helps users solve math problems, it is in the wake of the B2B solution that Microblink has secured external capital for the first time - seven years after its founding. 

"This is the first time that Microblink has received external capital. With a strategic, long-term approach, we could independently, with the reinvestment of profits, develop a company that has become a global technology leader in its segment. This was the first phase in the company's development, and we still have even bigger ambitions. We want to harness the potential of artificial intelligence to continue to make products with a superior user experience that change the ways the physical and digital worlds interact, across all devices," Damir points out.

With the entry of such large investors, some things will change, and so will the structure. While Jurica Cerovec will continue in the CTO role and Izet Ždralović as CEO in Croatia, Damir Sabol will be a member of the Microblink board together with Sri Rao, a partner from Silversmith, and Darren Bassman, who also becomes the CEO of Microblink.

Bassman has so far founded BlinkReceipt LLC, which has been a partner of Microblink for 6 years, and Microblink considers it the best choice for scaling in the US and global market.

Microblink B2B solutions are digital products based on their core recognition technology, available to users and developers through the SDK or Web API.

It all started with PhotoPay, a system for recognizing invoices and payment slips, which Microblink piloted in Croatia in 2011 with Erste Bank, for the then-revolutionary application Erste mBanking, which this year, unfortunately, was replaced by George.

Building on the success of PhotoPay, the founders unveiled a new umbrella brand for their “mobile vision” SDK called Microblink at London’s Techcrunch Disrupt in 2014.

The introduction of the BlinkID is Microblink's most popular product today, which is no wonder given that during a pandemic, scanning documents without close contact is more important than ever. Damir points out that BlinkReceipt is potentially very important commercially.

According to Microblink, hundreds of millions of people scan more than a billion documents and cards thanks to their technology used by a whole network of clients in over 70 countries, in industries such as banking, where PhotoPay started, all the way to insurance and retail.

Given the active role of Microblink as one of the initiators of CroAI and Sabola as an ambassador of the Elements of AI course in Croatia, no one is surprised that Microblink sees the further potential of its products in additional investment in artificial intelligence. 

"We will continue to bring together top engineers, but also experts in all other business areas, especially related to customer relations, product development, and expansion into global markets. We continue to lead scientific discoveries and innovations in the field of artificial intelligence. For that, we need passionate and talented people, who exist in Croatia and who already recognize us as one of the top three employers in the field of IT," said Jurica. 

Today, Microblink has over 100 full-time employees in Croatia, and in addition to focusing on the US market, it will also target some new markets.

"In the new development phase, we will first focus on strengthening the team in America and opening up new opportunities in that market. We will not stop there and are thinking about expanding into new markets, such as Asia and the Middle East. The priority is to design products that will bring greater value in certain verticals such as digital identity, market analysis, online payments," said Damir.

Damir concluded that they see Microblink as "a global leader in a segment that offers complete solutions and is slowly climbing in the value chain that is being delivered." The new phase of Microblink development confirms the lessons of the last 10 years: B2B and profitability to gradually scaling the global market.

They add a new lesson: through the development of a range of products based on innovative technology, they enabled scaling that began with PhotoPay and continued through Photomath as a spinoff and a range of B2B products within Microblink, which with this investment becomes one of the best-funded technology companies in Croatia.

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German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, in their annual review, has chosen Croatian mobile application Photomath among the top 10 applications of 2016.

As TCN reported back in January, there is more Croatian technological success as Zagrebs' MicroBlink wings its way into American politics.