March the 15th, 2023 - The organisers of the Green Future conference invite interested startups to submit innovative solutions in the field of sustainable development by May the 1st, 2023 to be in with a chance of winning 10,000 euros!

For the second consecutive year, Green Future is hosting a conference on ecology, energy, and smart cities at the beginning of June in Split's Croatian National Theatre. As part of this conference, the Startup Challenge will be held for companies that develop innovative solutions in the field of sustainable development. In addition to the lucrative main prize, there are also the Green Communication Awards awarded by Infobip for its products and services in the amount of 100,000 euros.

The Startup Challenge 2023 will allow representatives of ten startups to present their eco-ideas to the jury, and in addition to prizes and expert advice, be given the opportunity to network with industry titans and potential investors. The concept of the competition is also praised by last year's winners:

"By participating and winning the Startup Challenge, we received important support from the business and professional community, as well as confirmation that our application is something the market needs and wants to use. What impressed me the most was the incredible energy of the lecturers, participants, and organizers, their desire to go beyond the established framework of business and do something for the benefit of the environment, while at the same time enjoying themselves," said Duško Radulović from Climatig, last year's winner with an application for predicting climate risks.

The winner of the main Green Communication award last year was the Italian startup Must Had, whose mission is to speed up the transition towards sustainable fashion by selling high-quality clothes, created from the surplus of the fashion industry.

"As an international startup, the win enabled us to present projects to many people focused on sustainability and the circular economy. Just participating in the conference was an excellent opportunity for growth, thanks to networking opportunities and access to technical tools to improve our abilities," said Eugenio Riganti, co-founder of Must Had.

Marked as a tech event not to be missed, the Green Future Conference 2023 will be held in Split's HNK, on ​​June 1 and 2, with domestic and international speakers addressing the topics of green transition in the context of technology, finance, energy, environmental protection, public politics, and e-mobility.

"Green Future is a unique platform for connecting and encouraging changes towards a sustainable future, where everyone has the opportunity to network with experts from different industries, exchange experiences, and explore new business opportunities," said Ivan Burazin, Infobip board member for developer experience, emphasizing that the Startup Challenge is an opportunity to learn about the latest ideas on the market, and at the same time help young entrepreneurs on their way to success.

The first Croatian unicorn, Infobip, is also this year's main partner in the startup competition:

"We are proud to be part of the Green Future conference, as a fantastic platform for the exchange of ideas, where young developers get the opportunity to learn, progress and make key contacts." - said Nikola Pavešić, Infobip's director for the startup ecosystem and head of the Infobip Startup Tribe, and invited all young companies and individuals to apply for participation in the Startup Challenge.

Those interested can register here, and you can follow the news about the Green Future conference and the Startup Challenge 2023 on the official website.

For more, check out our business section.

April the 15th, 2022 - The India-Croatia Startup Challenge competition is gearing up with partner companies including the likes of Infobip and Koncar in hopes of encouraging more cooperation between startups from these two countries.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment (HAMAG-BICRO) and Startup India are organising the India-Croatia Startup Challenge competition in cooperation with partner companies Infobip, Koncar and HexGn, along with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of India in Croatia.

After the launch of India-Croatia Startup Bridge, a digital platform designed to strengthen international cooperation, innovation environment and trade and economic cooperation between Croatia and India, HAMAG-BICRO and Startup India have been busy continuing the various activities designed to encourage cooperation between Indian and Croatian startups.

Following this, a competition, the India-Croatia Startup Challenge, has been designed to find innovative startup solutions for three challenges in the fields of sustainability, livelihoods, sustainable development goals, green energy, education and skills development: Clean Water and a Better Quality of Life, Reduced Inequality and Dignified Labour and Economic Growth.

Participants in the India-Croatia Startup Challenge who offer the best solutions can win cash prizes, mentoring, incubation and business solutions for their further growth. The total value of the prize pool is estimated at 43,000.00 US dollars.

The partner companies of the India-Croatia Startup Challenge will work to provide the following benefits for the best solutions made by Croatian and Indian startups that will participate in the competition:

Infobip will select up to 3 best startup solutions from among 12 successful participants and award each of them with a prize in the form of Infobip products and services worth a total of 10,000 dollars. The selected startup teams will receive the support of the talented and experienced Infobip team in order to make the most of the possibilities of Infobip's products for their growth.

Koncar will provide a cash prize in the amount of 10,000.00 kuna (around 1,694 dollars) for the best startup solution to the Dignified Labour and Economic Growth area.

HexGn will provide a free scale up programme worth 2,000 dollars to each of the 12 successful participants (six from India and six from Croatia). The programme will run for 45 days twice a week.

Interested startup companies can submit their innovative solutions until May the 20th, 2022 on the official Startup India website via this link. The winners will be announced at an event organised by HAMAG-BICRO on June the 14th, 2022, and it will also be announced on their website.

For more, check out our business section.

July 23, 2021 - Opatija is known to be Croatia's "cradle of tourism", hence, it's no wonder that it became home to HUBBAZIA - a centre for creativity and innovation in tourism. This business incubator, co-financed by the European Union, is now accepting applications from start-up companies that have original, sustainable, and creative ideas to further boost tourism entrepreneurship in Opatija. Applications are open until August 5, 2021! 

One of the most important (if not the most important) economic branches in Croatia is tourism and through HUBBAZIA, the City of Opatija encourages and attracts young startup companies to open and create new sustainable business ideas to further enhance the development of tourism in the city by providing full management training and mentoring, fully-equipped co-working space for brainstorming and lastly, venture capital financing. Joining HUBBAZIA is a great opportunity for young entrepreneurs to help increase their company's efficiency while significantly reducing looming business risks.

In return, through this project, the City of Opatija hopes to attract more foreign and domestic investors, regional economic and social development growth, and a more fulfilling relationship between the city's small to medium enterprises and the local community's needs. With HUBBAZIA amounting to a total value of HRK 2,543,985.25 (EUR 338,850.47), thanks to the European Regional Development Fund, the project will serve as big assistance to youth who are striving in launching their own businesses and will ensure the growth of Opatija's tourism industry.

Conditions for application 

The City of Opatija, together with PAR Business School, welcomes young entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas and business models related to tourism AS LONG AS the business entities are not older than 3 years. The program will have 5 project cycles, meaning, it will have 5 generations of participants. The deadline for the application for its 1st cycle will be on 05.08.2021 at 12:00. The workshops and mentorships will begin on 16.08.2021 and will be held in the newly renovated and modernly equipped Villa Antonia. If interested, CLICK HERE for the application link.

What to expect?

After the submission of all applications closes, HUBBAZIA will conduct the selection phase which usually lasts for 1 month. If your business manages to get through, you will enter the mentoring and education phase which lasts for 4 months along with 25 hours of workshops each month. Here, your company will be mentored by experts in business, finance, marketing, sales, web design, investment, and product development to help you shape and enhance your business ideas. Next is the final consultation/construction phase, where you will be given a month to finalise your business construction model. The whole cycle culminates on Demo Day when participants get to present their ideas to the public and attract investors. 

Attendees will be entitled to have free co-working space, internet, meeting room, consumables for training, counseling, and mentoring, presentation on HUBBAZIA websites and social networks, and minimized initial fixed costs. Most importantly, HUBBAZIA will be a space for like-minded individuals to brainstorm and network their business with other entrepreneurs and to gain a wider range of business information and contacts - a definite and exciting once-in-a-lifetime chance!

For more details on HUBBAZIA, CLICK HERE.

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CLICK HERE for more about Croatia.

May 27, 2021 - This June, a five-day Summer Business School organized by Step-Ri Science-Technology Park and the American Embassy in Croatia makes Rijeka the place for entrepreneurs.

Science parks, research parks or technology parks or less intriguingly known as innovation centers, are a purpose-built cluster of office spaces, labs, workrooms, and meeting areas designed to support research and development in science and tech, says Bidwells, one of the UK's most reputable property consultancy companies. Common infrastructures worldwide and in Europe, the biggest city in Kvarner, Rijeka, is no exception in having one.

Step-Ri is a science-technology park, part of the University in Rijeka, and a place where science and economy meet to encourage entrepreneurship based on knowledge and new technologies.

„As one of the leading institutions in Croatia when it comes to entrepreneurship, Step Ri brings the newest knowledge in innovation and management from around the world through interesting education and business consulting. With our knowledge and experience, singlehandedly and with the help of the international network of partners and friends, we create projects and specialized programs to encourage entrepreneurship initiatives for both employed and unemployed, students, and the scientific community. With new services, business models, personal and organizational competencies, we make already successful entrepreneurs more competitive“, says Step-Ri's official website.
One example of such initiatives is the upcoming Summer Business Camp which will take place from June 23-27. And what's more interesting, this five-day program is brought to Step-Ri in collaboration with the American Embassy in Croatia.

„Summer Business Camp brings teams from all Croatia that want to improve or refine their business ideas and solutions through exercises, lectures, and individual coaching, “says Step Ri, promising extraordinary mentoring from successful entrepreneurs and investors.

This year, special attention will be given to the gaming startups, but other industries are also welcome. Regardless of whether you are already an entrepreneur or just aspiring to be one, you are welcome to apply if you have a developed business idea or a functional prototype.

Learning how to bulletproof your idea, experienced entrepreneur as a mentor, a chance to hear directly from investors what are they looking for and how to deliver it, valuable feedback and honest thoughts to accelerate your project, creating new opportunities, meeting other people in the business, and a having a good time- are some of the promises by Step-Ri for those who apply.

But, it would be best if you hurried, as June 6 is very close, and that's the deadline to beat. At least ten teams will be selected after a committee of experts evaluates project applications. Bed and breakfast accommodation for up to two team members, lunch at the venue, local bus tickets for getting to the venue, and a commemorative T-shirt await for those who are selected. And once in, a panel of venture capitalists, business angels, and business people will award the best with Apple iPad Pro (1st prize), Apple iPad Air 4 (2nd prize), and Apple iPad 8 (3rd prize).

Pieces of technologies such as the aforementioned above can certainly come in handy to entrepreneurs, but what about money? The actual finance for your projects?
„Many teams in the past received funding from participating investors and judges. However, nobody but you can answer that! Come and pitch your idea and see how far it will take you!“concludes Step-Ri regarding finance possibilities to turn your vision into a reality.

Learn more about Rijeka on our TC page.

For more about education in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 24, 2021 - The new method, me.mum, only needs a drop of saliva for analyzing hormones and predicting fertility. The project aims to present a reliable solution for all women and couples who are planning a pregnancy or trying to conceive but are experiencing difficulties.

As we hear about the latest technological advances and discoveries, the first thing that comes to mind might be a Tesla truck or a new social network available in the app store. Thus, we wonder, what purpose does technology serve? We believe, therefore, that today's progress in the technology industry is dictated by the latest trends, whims, and social needs of the human being (and it is worth clarifying that it is not all bad).

me.mum

But it also depends on where we look, because not every day people and ideas appear willing to change the course of, for example, the way we know about family planning and predicting fertility. A Croatian entrepreneur, based on her life experience, decided a few years ago to take action on the matter and revolutionize the way in which women can better know their bodies and plan the desired pregnancy with their partners through an innovative method, and it only requires an easy-to-use device and a mobile application.

In 2015, after two years of expectations, disappointment, and hopes, Maja Bujas felt pushed towards four years of developing me.mum, which is an innovative portable fertility monitor and app that can accurately predict women's fertile days by analyzing the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) from saliva. Its technology is built from scratch, and provides personalized insights into women's hormone profile, and detects the most fertile days, which significantly increases the chance of conceiving. Chances of getting pregnant are higher when women can identify their fertility window. me.mum combines the most popular methods of determining the fertile days: period calendar and measuring luteinizing hormone (LH) from saliva, instead of urine.

Maja Bujas, founder of me.mum

After conceiving the idea, the research and development stage followed. In 2017, the first functional models and app were designed. In the two following years, two prototypes of me.mum were developed, and in December 2020 the final product was completed. That way, after four years of development and two prototypes, Maja can finally share one simple to use solution for all women and couples who are planning a pregnancy or trying to conceive but experiencing difficulties. When you are trying to conceive, the most important thing is to determine your fertile days. With me.mum you will do it easily and simply.

Its use is very practical and easy to learn for all those interested in predicting fertility in few steps. The best time to use me.mum is in the morning, but you can use it during the day too. Before using, it is important not to eat or drink anything, except water. That way your saliva will be clean. According to Maja and her team of developers, the process of using me.mum can be summed up in only three easy steps! 

Currently, the product is already on sale in the early-bird mode, in which all those interested in buying it can access an exclusive price. The market price will be €119, but at this time one can order it through two packages: one for €59, which includes the smart fertility monitor device and the me.mum app. The other, for €69, also includes an online nutrition course for boosting your fertility. The estimated shipping date worldwide will be July 2021. The app will be available as soon as the first me.mum devices are delivered.

Likewise, the me.mum crowdfunding campaign is still in effect, with 25 more days for all those willing and interested in collaborating with its developers, who would like to hear feedback from the early users and grow the me.mum community. Also, through their crowdfunding site, you can learn more about me.mum, the team behind its development, how to use it, any updates in purchasing and shipping, and more!

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February 8, 2021 – In a recent test of smart jewelry available on the market, conducted by Business Insider, the Croatian Bellabeat Leaf Urban pendant was named the best smart jewelry, and Bellabeat's Leaf Chakra the best smart bracelet in the world.

As Jutarnji list reports, smart jewelry from one of the first and most successful Croatian startups, the company Bellabeat, was rated the best in the world in the Business Insider survey. They rated Bellabeat’s Leaf Urban pendant as the best smart jewelry in the world, as well as Bellabeat's Leaf Chakra as the best smart bracelet in the world.

The startup of Croatian mathematician Sandro Mur and Slovenian artist Urška Sršen, which became a subsidiary of Five River Group, has been breaking into the market again for the last three years and is succeeding.

Fitness tracker as a work of art

In recent years, Bellabeat has been written about mostly in the context of downsizing and business problems. However, three years ago, they got a new investment, as much as 14 million dollars, started attracting new staff, and now they have received the first major confirmation of their progress in product development.

So far, they have sold two million of their products, and their main market is the US.

Bellabeat states that Leaf Urban, also their best-selling product, is a perfect blend of technology and modern design. They have shown that smart jewelry does not have to be ugly or super masculine to be highly technically useful.

"This piece of smart jewelry in the shape of a leaf turns a fitness tracker into a work of art. It can be worn as a bracelet, necklace or brooch, does not disturb the user with an additional screen, its battery lasts up to 6 months and can monitor your activity, stress level, hydration, menstrual cycle, meditation, and sleep. It connects wirelessly to a mobile app," they point out.

Eight million people use their app

All ideas for Bellabeat's products came from their creative director Urška Sršen. In a recent interview for Jutarnji list, she said that she has been battling autoimmune diseases since she was a child and that she has learned to control them by managing her lifestyle with enough exercise, proper nutrition, enough sleep, and stress reduction.

“I realized that technology can be a great tool that can help raise awareness of your own lifestyle and hone healthy habits. That's how Bellabeat came to be. Most of the tools that were on the market until then were not so much adapted to women, i.e., users who are not so much focused exclusively on fitness, but on their lifestyle in general," said Sršen, who once ended up on Forbes' prestigious "30 under 30" list.

Bellabeat Leaf Urban

The smart water bottle Spring, which enables automatic hydration monitoring, is also in their offer, as well as the Time smartwatch and the new Ivy collection, similar to Leaf, which has additional functions for measuring heart rate and cardio coherence.

In addition to hardware, Bellabeat is increasingly working on its software, which is used by about eight million people. Their app offers more and more personalized content, such as tips related to women’s health and beauty, diet recipes, training plan, guided meditations etc.

Testing and collecting data

This Croatian startup has developed an algorithm that can predict stress resistance on any given day. They claim that if you say that you did not sleep well or that you did not exercise, the algorithm itself will predict that you may be more susceptible to stress that day.

Bellabeat's young team develops this content in collaboration with top wellness instructors. Also, when developing all their products and contents, they consult with medical experts and they test and verify everything.

"I think that in the future, technology will be an increasing factor and contributor to the wellness industry's progress. We want to be a ‘data company’. Technology is our tool, but data is our greatest treasure. Based on that, we can further improve our services, but also work on the development of the wellness market in general," concludes Sršen.

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

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 6th of March, 2020, the brand new Croatian fintech startup Revuto, which plans to attack competition such as the gigantic PayPal with a combination of a crypto wallet, its own debit cards and online subscription management, has begun to receive some of its first users.

This Croatian fintech startup is currently in its beta phase, with its application due to become available to users in the second half of this year. This is the first Croatian mobile wallet to announce that it will issue its own ''Revuto debit card'' which can be used at ATMs just like those issued by banks.

Miriam Belar, CEO and co-founder of the Croatian fintech startup, says they are developing a "subscription manager" application on the market that will be able to approve, block or delay the payment of any service at the time that subscription arrives, whether it's Netflix, Deezer, Spotify, Adobe, or even Google or Apple.

This is exactly whee the biggest difference with PayPal lies, which is otherwise heavily used in Croatia, among other things, for this purpose. ''In an era when more and more services are switching to subscription models, the number of users to whom such services in various '''free trial'' and ''subscription options'' are taking money without their control is increasing rapidly, so, this Revuto service should also represent savings for their costs,'' Belar says.

Revuto wants to get into this segment by using artificial intelligence that should allow for the maximum deferral of payment without suspending the service, then, by simply adding and sorting subscriptions by category, creating monthly and annual spending thresholds individually and by subscription categories.

In addition, it should allow users to share the cost of one or more selected subscriptions with other Revuto application users, gift subscriptions to friends, and other similar options.

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

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 18th of July, 2019, it appears that Croatia is a new top destination for financial startups in Europe, and naturally, everyone is wondering why.

After the Nordic startup Auka made the global premiere of its Settle mobile payment application from Zagreb, and Apple Pay immediately arrived in Croatia with its expansion across Europe, now a young, high tech Romanian company called Pago, has started testing its financial application (app) of the same name, right here in Croatia.

Moreover, after a successful launch in Romania, Pago decided that its application would first be alpha-tested in Croatia, alongside the biggest market in Eastern Europe - Poland. The word ''Alpha'' in this sense means that the application is not yet completely functional or completely translated into Croatian. Antonija Bilić Arar, Pago's manager for Croatia, told Poslovni Dnevnik that the new mobile application will be officially presented shortly. Probably in September.

Despite that, users in Croatia can already download the application if they so wish, regardless of the fact that it can't yet be used in full, and Pago has briefly explained that it is because of the size and development of the market, and has revealed the figures that no other player on that same market has yet wanted to comment on.

"About four billion euros per year are spent on utilities, rent, food, entertainment and other similar activities in Croatia, of which sixty percent of all payments are made in cash and only 25 percent are done by bank transfer, all indicating huge potential for easy payment solutions like Pago,'' stated Bilić Arar.

These figures further clarified the finances, stating that according to the internal research of one of the two largest card holders in the world, Croatia, with regard to payment transactions, has one of the most underdeveloped markets in the whole of Eastern Europe. And while it's bad for beginners who want to break through here, this is a great opportunity.

Antonija Bilić Arar says that in Romania, when it comes to paiyng for rent, food, entertainment and other activities, people spend nine billion euros yearly. In the largest regional market, that of Poland, only 21 percent of transactions are done in cash.

"In Romania, however, the situation is similar to that in Croatia, where a large number of payments, as much as 75 percent of them, are done with cash and only 15 percent are done by bank transfer, and over there in Romania, Pago already has more than 100,000 users per month, more than 200 suppliers in the system, and there are more than 5,500 accounts paid via Pago daily,'' said Aric Bilić.

Pago has not commented on what kind of appetite Croatia has for it, but the founder and chief executive of Auke, Daniel Döderlein, at the global premiere of Settle in Zagreb, said they wouldn't even enter Croatia's market without thinking that their results couldn't beat those of the current market leader, KEKS Pay.

On the Croatian market, a number of domestic and foreign players have begun to catch up. The aforementioned KEKS Pay from Erste Bank went one step farther and can now boast of more than 40,000 users. The second largest mobile bank in Europe has also entered the Croatian market, Revolut, which already has more than 20,000 users here, and they confirmed that Croatia was their most successful soft launch in southern Europe.

Because of all of the competition, PayPal and TransferWise completely opened up their services to users in Croatia last year, Google Pay arrived in Croatia, and Apple Pay has now also arrived. In addition, Corvus Pay, the company-daughter of the largest Croatian IT company, M SAN Group, has also offered its services.

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

This Croatian startup from Zagreb is a real mix of classical and virtual mobile games, but also has an educational mission.

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of April, 2019, today, virtual games have replaced classic ones like ''Čovječe ne ljuti se'' (Ludo) or ''Monopoly'', but when classically associated with a digital game, you end up with a smart social game - Mundus.

A passionate love for technology is shared by three students from Zagreb. They all came together two years ago, and their project is Mundus. Social games are undervalued today, these guys agree, and although industry experts might say that their project isn't in demand in this day and age, the fact is that they entered the startup world directly from their school desks and are learning in parallel with the development of the project.

"We had to combine what was unknown knowledge to us back then. But given the fact that we love to learn and to develop technology, it wasn't difficult for us,'' stated of Mundus's members, Filip Hercig, who was the one to kick off the project initially.

The idea for Mundus was quite spontaneous back at the end of 2015 when Hercig, who is now in charge of business development, showcased the very first concept of this clever game during a competition for young technicians and young entrepreneurs. The name changed several times - at the earliest stage it was called ''Zabavan put Hrvatske'' (A fun journey of Croatia) and then ''Svijet na dlanu'' (The world in your palm), before taking on its current name.

"In the summer of 2017, when we came to the CROZ company to develop our ideas, we decided to shorten its name from Svijet na dlanu down to just Svijet, but as it didn't sound good, we decided to translate into Latin, and that's how Mundus began,'' said Filip Hercig.

It seems that Mundus isn't just your regular type of game, and the focus of the project today is on the application of this technology within the scope of formal education. It's actually an educational system, and the game is just one of the solutions the Mundus team is working on. A mobile device acts as a kind of gaming agent, where players choose the theme for the game and launch a quiz, and everything else is played on the game's board, like with classic games before the Internet age.

Things became much more serious for this Croatian startup back in September of last year, when they won the Good Game Liftoff startup competition.

"They chose us as the best startup and besides giving us their trust, they also gave us 100,000 kuna. We can't forget to mention the Good Game Global company that actually organised the competition and raised all the funds for that prize,'' added Hercig.

After winning the Good Game Liftoff, this Croatian startup managed to secure numerous collaborations, is currently working with 48 schools across the Republic of Croatia, and interest in the game has stretched far beyond the borders of the country, and even beyond the borders of the EU and the European continent.

"There's interest on the Australian and New Zealand market, specifically in the education sector. We're currently conducting tests that are a prerequisite for serious moves in these markets,'' said Hercig. Mundus is actually still a non-profit organisation, explained Hercig, and in 2019, it should turn into a real company.

"We're oriented towards cooperating with educational institutions, but of course we're not closing the door to purchase options for private users. We've got potential there tool, and in order to best explore the mass market, we plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign in September 2019,'' concluded Mundus' Filip Hercig.

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

Click here for the original article by Ivan Tominac for Poslovni Dnevnik

Although the Croatian economic situation isn't the most promising one in the world and you’ll encounter and many young people are leaving the country in search of better future, not everything is as bad as the news might suggest.

Croatia is full of young, driven, educated and ambitious individuals who want to create something for themselves in their own country by founding startups.

On a very long list of successful Croatian startups, TalentLyft, is a name you should remember. It was recently recognised as the best Croatian startup by Global Startup Awards. EU-Startups, the leading online publication with a focus on startups in Europe, has also found TalentLyft to be the most promising Croatian startup you should look out for in 2019 and beyond.

Founded in 2015 in Zagreb by two developers, Mario Buntić and Nikola Biondić, TalentLyft is a startup that developed a recruiting software that modernises and simplifies the recruiting process, in other words, it is a recruiting tool that helps companies find, attract and hire the best talent. It offers both recruitment and marketing solutions to attract the best candidates, and an applicant tracking system to solve post-application problems such as effective candidate communication, a database with all the applicants and their profiles, candidate assessment kits and scorecards, and interview scheduling all in one place.

Today, TalentLyft boasts thirteen full time employees and is currently located at Technopark (venue for startups at Velesajam).

In a brief interview with Total Croatia News, they revealed that startup life in Croatia isn't easy. There are many barriers to overcome in order to enter the market and start a business, starting from bureaucratic conundrums to finding capital investors, which is difficult to do in this environment. There is not much support for small firms and startups, so you’re very much on your own. Instead of focusing on new, promising sectors such as IT, the Croatian Government still invests in outdated industries.

Times and job markets are changing, and so should their investments.

‘’There's always a solid chance that your product will fail,'' they say. The startup life is risky, challenging and uncertain and requires a lot of hard work, devotion, persistence and compromise. However, despite, or exactly because of that, working in a startup offers a unique chance for personal and professional skill development and career advancement. When you are a small startup, you need to deliver a game changing solution and product in order to compete with the big guys. The only way to do that is by having all of your employees constantly learn new things, experiment and innovate.

‘’Since TalentLyft is a small group, every employees’ opinion is important; changes are embraced rapidly making us more agile’’, they state.

They are also proud of the fact that they're working with latest technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, emphasising the fact that their employees’ knowledge needs to be up to date and that you can lose good people if they’re stuck working with old technologies.

‘’Yes it’s the employees’ responsibility to keep learning, but it’s our responsibility to provide them with the tools necessary for that,'' they state from this Croatian startup.

They love the fact that they are a small team because it means there's a better connection: ‘’You know everyone by their name, you work hard together, you share your struggles and the laughs, and you get the chance to build something from the ground up.’’

The startup life is for those who embrace challenges, seek new ways of doing things, and question the status quo.

‘’When you manage to gather together a group of people like that, every day feels like an adventure and there is no challenge you can’t tackle in the end.’’

Let's hope we'll see more examples like this across Croatia in the near future.

Follow our dedicated business page for more information on Croatian startups, Croatian companies, products and services, and doing business and investing in Croatia.