At the midpoint of 2024, the tech ecosystem in Croatia continues to secure significant funding rounds, with the top seven players raising a total of €124M. This diverse group of startups spans various verticals across the tech ecosystem in Croatia, including Transportation, Event Tech, SaaS, HealthTech and FinTech. The apparent disparity in growth vs. the previous period in Croatia largely stems from Project 3 Mobility (Verne), which raised €100M in 2024 compared to H1 2023, when the startup raised €180M from the European Commission.
Croatia has secured the 48th position in the global startup scene. Zagreb, the capital, is emerging as a regional hub for startup activities. The Zagreb Innovation Center (ZICER) supports over 100 tech companies, providing them with infrastructure, research, sponsorship, promotion and financing assistance from the City of Zagreb.
Based on the success stories of Infobip and Rimac, and coupled with a growing network of events, companies and investor initiatives in the tech startup sector, Croatia features one of the most promising startup scenes in the Balkans and is starting to become competitive in the CEE ecosystem.
This article is part of the CEE milestones mapping series. More will follow soon. Discover the tech funding rounds in H1 2024 up to date. Please, feel free to contact us with updates or investments we should add to the list: [email protected].
Below you can find all the funding rounds registered so far in Croatia for tech startups in H1 2024:
1. Verne (Project 3 Mobility)
Latest round: €100M
Stage: Series A
Total funding: €280M
Investors: TASARU Mobility Investments, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Rimac Automobili, Infinum, Kia Motors, SiteGround and Neurone Technologies
Founders: Mate Rimac, Marko Pejković (CEO of Verne) and Adriano Mudri (Chief Design Officer)
Vertical: Transportation, Autonomous & Sensor Tech
About: Project 3 Mobility (Verne) is building an autonomous mobility system that ensures urban drives are safer with an effortlessly user experience.
2. Entrio
Latest round: €9M
Stage: Growth Equity VC
Total funding: €9.4M
Investors: Invera Equity Partners
Founders: Berislav Marszalek and Matija Marijan
Vertical: Event Tech, Media
About: Entrio is an event management platform, with tailor-made support for all your in-person, hybrid and virtual events.
3. Daytona
Latest round: €4.6M
Stage: Seed
Total funding: €6.4M
Investors: Upfront Ventures and 500 Emerging Europe
Founders: Ivan Burazin and Goran Draganic
Vertical: SaaS
About: Daytona is Simplifying Development Environments — Set up a dev environment on any infrastructure, with a single command.
4. Glycan Age
Latest round: €3.9M
Stage: Seed
Total funding: €4.3M
Investors: LAUNCHub Ventures and Kadmos Capital
Founders: Gordan Lauc and Nikolina Lauc
Vertical: HealthTech
About: GlycanAge is a biological age test paired with expert advice to help guide your wellness.
5. Pythagora
Latest round: €3.7M
Stage: Seed
Total funding: €3.8M
Investors: Y Combinator, Inovo VC, 500 Emerging Europe, Rebel, UpHonest Capital and Moonfire Ventures
Founders: Leon Ostrez, Senko Rasic and Zvonimir Sabljic
Vertical: SaaS
About: Pythagora is a complete AI developer that builds apps through natural language interaction. Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and advanced machine learning algorithms, it aims to ensure optimal efficiency and quality by enabling smooth communication between users and the AI developer. One of the main goals is automating developer workflows by streamlining tasks.
6. Prolaz
Latest round: €1.3M
Stage: Growth Equity non-VC
Total funding: €1.3M
Investors: New Vision 3
Founders: John Jager
Vertical: FinTech
About: Prolaz POS d.o.o. is a company and Third-Party Service Provider (TPP) in the payment industry with a growing number of direct connections to local acquirers in Europe.
7. Qubinets
Latest round: €1.1M
Stage: Seed
Total funding: €1.1M
Investors: Fil Rouge Capital (FRC) and SQ Capital
Founders: Ivan Konjevod and Amir Babovic
Vertical: SaaS
About: Qubinets are digital systems comprised of pre-configured packages (Qubs), featuring either Open-Source tools or proprietary features, ready for combination through a graphical user interface.
8.Mindsmiths
Latest round: Undisclosed
Stage: Early VC
Total funding: €1.2M* (w/o the last round which remains undisclosed)
Investors: TS Ventures Fund
Founders: Mislav Malenica
Vertical: SaaS
About: Mindsmiths creates AI solutions that simplify decision-making and enhance collaboration between people and machines. The startup is focusing on making complex problems manageable by using specialized AI agents that work together to provide actionable insights and efficient outcomes in various sectors like healthcare, finance and education.
The tech sector from Croatia also saw one notable M&A announcement:
July
Visma, a leading provider of mission-critical business software for a more efficient and resilient society that simplifies and automates the work of companies and organizations of all sizes, enters Croatia with acquisition of eInvoicing provider, Moj eRačun, an important provider of SaaS business tools in Croatia. Founded in 2014, Moj eRačun is digitalizing administrative processes in the country, pioneering solutions for eInvoicing and document management systems through its comprehensive my eOffice suite. The acquisition amount remains undisclosed.
Here you can read about some interesting materials from our archive about the startups from Croatia:
- The history of the AI startup Mindsmiths, which raised €1.2M in a seed funding round led by Croatia-based VC Feelsgood Investment Fund in 2021. Founded in 2019, the company is a pioneer in the field of Autonomous Support Systems, and it will use the investment to further develop and expand its AI platform.
- In June 2022, Rimac Automobili raised €500M in a Series D round led by giants SoftBank and Goldman Sachs, as well as existing shareholders such as Porsche and InvestIndustrial.
