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Zagreb hosts both of Croatia’s unicorns — just not their birthplaces

  • Infobip: founded in Vodnjan, now an 800+ staff Zagreb campus
  • Infobip 2023 revenue: €1.735 billion, 4,000+ staff globally
  • Rimac Automobili: hypercars, headquartered just outside city limits
  • Porsche has held a 24% Rimac stake since March 2021
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How Zagreb’s tech scene grew

Two companies that became Zagreb’s tech identity without technically starting there.

Infobip is founded in Vodnjan, Istria

Not Zagreb — though its largest facility today is a dedicated innovation campus in Zagreb with more than 800 staff.

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Getting the story straight

Infobip, Croatia’s first unicorn, was actually founded in 2006 in Vodnjan, a small town in Istria — not Zagreb. Rimac Automobili, Croatia’s second unicorn, is headquartered in Sveta Nedelja, just outside Zagreb’s city limits. Zagreb is the operational and talent centre for both companies even though neither was founded, strictly, within the city — a distinction worth getting right, since the underlying reason (talent, infrastructure, access to the capital) is exactly what matters to anyone else deciding where to locate.

Infobip

A dedicated innovation campus in Zagreb with more than 800 staff, though founded in Vodnjan.

Rimac Automobili

Electric hypercars, headquartered in Sveta Nedelja just outside Zagreb, 24% Porsche-owned.

How Zagreb businesses buy digital work

Zagreb’s tech-adjacent workforce is internationally exposed through Infobip and Rimac specifically. The wider city is a conventional, moderately prosperous Central European capital, Croatian-first, methodical in its buying decisions. Be precise about what "Zagreb tech" actually means here — campuses and talent, not necessarily founding stories — and treat the wider city as a standard capital-city market: professional, unhurried, Croatian-language by default.

Tech-adjacent, internationally exposed work

Shaped by Infobip and Rimac’s presence specifically.

Trades and home services

Croatian-first and local, methodical rather than impulsive.

Clinics, salons and studios

Online booking and published prices, the standard expectation.

Shops, cafés and hospitality

A conventional, moderately prosperous capital-city consumer market.

The full piece

Zagreb: home to both of Croatia’s unicorns’ main campuses, if not quite their birthplaces

Digital market analysis•2 min read

Getting the story straight

Infobip, Croatia's first unicorn, was actually founded in 2006 in Vodnjan, a small town in Istria — not Zagreb, though its largest facility today is a dedicated innovation campus in Zagreb with more than 800 staff. The company reached unicorn status via a $200 million investment in July 2020, and reported 2023 revenue of €1.735 billion across more than 4,000 employees globally.

Rimac Automobili, Croatia's second unicorn and maker of electric hypercars, is headquartered in Sveta Nedelja, just outside Zagreb's city limits rather than inside them — founded in 2009 by Mate Rimac, with Porsche holding a 24% stake since March 2021.

What that means for the city

Zagreb is the operational and talent centre for both companies even though neither was founded, strictly, within the city — a distinction worth getting right, since the underlying reason (talent, infrastructure, access to the capital) is exactly what matters to anyone else deciding where to locate.

The city also hosts ZICER, Croatia's national startup-ecosystem hub, reinforcing its role as the country's default landing place for growing tech companies.

The buyer

Zagreb's tech-adjacent workforce is internationally exposed through Infobip and Rimac specifically. The wider city is a conventional, moderately prosperous Central European capital, Croatian-first, methodical in its buying decisions.

The practical read

Be precise about what "Zagreb tech" actually means here — campuses and talent, not necessarily founding stories — and treat the wider city as a standard capital-city market: professional, unhurried, Croatian-language by default.

Sources

Caveats and sourcing

  • Verifiable — Infobip's Vodnjan founding, Zagreb campus and headcount, unicorn round and reported revenue; Rimac's Sveta Nedelja headquarters, founding year and Porsche stake.
  • Characterising claims — the description of the wider city and buyer behaviour is interpretation.

How well do you know Zagreb’s digital economy?

Zagreb quiz · 1 of 5

Where was Infobip, Croatia’s first unicorn, actually founded?

Why FastSites works here

For the ordinary Zagreb business, a clear published price and a straightforward, professional site fits a capital that buys methodically, not impulsively.

Built mobile-first, in Croatian. Don’t borrow Infobip or Rimac’s tech-campus credibility unless you’re actually part of that world — this is for the standard capital-city market around it.

More from the Croatia series

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