A total of 11 Croatian companies placed in this year’s Deloitte competition of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe. to Watch”, while three more companies were specially presented in the “Stars of positive influence” category, the consulting firm reported on čThursday Deloitte.
More than 400 companies from 17 countries, including 29 from Croatia, applied for this year’s competition of the 50 fastest growing technology companies, which It is the 25th year in a row that Deloitte has conducted it at the level of Central Europe.
As before, 50 registered companies managed to achieve placement on the ranking list in the main category in 2024. These companies come from seven countries and seven different industry sectors, and as in previous competitions, software companies dominated. Their average growth rate was 1604 percent, which is more than last year’s 1502 percent. The growth rate is based on the revenues that the companies achieved between 2020 and 2023 and represents a period marked by a global pandemic and significant geopolitical tensions, according to Delloitte.
As in previous years, software companies dominate the ranking with 28 placements, fintech has 7 representatives, followed by media and entertainment with 5 and environmental protection technology with 4, while the other sectors hardware, health and ž life sciences and communications have 2 placements each.
“More than 400 companies applied for placement on the list that ranks and selects the 50 best. Again, Polish and Czech companies with 17 placements each ‘took over’ most of the table, which is understandable given the size of the market in these countries, and they are traditionally followed by the excellent Croatia with čfour placed companies”, pointed out Natko Sertić, the main partner for taxes in the CE South region.
This year’s winner in the “Technology Fast 50” category is Oddin.gg with a growth of 7,958 percent, an Czech software company that developed a platform for connected data analysis, quota calculations and other tools in the field of electronic sports and sports betting. Another performer is the Czech software company MAGU®, with a growth of 4,248 percent, who have developed their own platform for the sale of personal care products and natural nutritional supplements. Latvian fintech company SIA JEFF, which developed a system for creating a personalized offer of useful experience in stores and on online platforms, took third place with a growth of 3,652 percent.
Of the Croatian companies this year, Stemi was the best placed, in 21st place with a growth of 1,227 percent. Stemi has developed a learning platform that offers various educational programs and workshops for students, teachers and students. Their focus is on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet, drones and cyber security, and the goal is to stimulate interest in techniques and natural sciences.
They are followed by Devōt in 34th place (960 percent growth), a company that develops software and digital solutions, and specializes in building innovative HealthTech solutions, and BID Grupa in 37th place (934 percent). BID Group has developed a multilingual CMS platform, i.e. an integrated booking engine that is used as a reservation system in some hotels and tourist agencies. Aircash, a fintech company engaged in money transfer services, ranked 42nd with a growth of 860 percent.
Young companies on the rise
The emerging companies category includes young companies that could not qualify for the main Fast 50 ranking. This category was also dominated by software companies with 15 placements out of a total of 25, and the leading companies from the Czech Republic with 7 and Poland with 5 placements, followed by Croatia with 4, Slovakia and Romania with 3, Serbia with 2 and Hungary with 1 placed company.
The winner of this category for 2024 is the Czech fintech company Patron GO with a growth of 1,169 percent, which developed a platform that fully and automatically verifies all the user’s regular payments and transactions and saves time and offers various options for optimizing personal finances . Four software companies from Croatia achieved placement in this competition: Jenz.app in 12th place with a growth of 410 percent, followed by 17th Barrek (273 percent), 20th Amplibit (239 percent) and 21st Release14 with a growth of 236 percent.
Jenz.app has developed an internal social network that functions like a mobile intranet and an application for engaging company employees. The Barrek company has developed its own software/application, world-renowned software for internal, external and certification audits. Amplibit specializes in the development of advanced banking solutions designed to improve and optimize business operations, and Release14 is dedicated to providing superior solutions for legal interception, data retention and information security, according to Deloitte.
Nagrada “CE Tech Rocketship!”
In Deloitte’s partnership with Google Cloud at the level of Central Europe, this is the third year in which they jointly awarded a special award “CE Tech Rocketship!” to the company that contributed the most to the development of high-quality, scalable solutions that satisfy even the most demanding users.
This year, a joint jury composed of representatives from Deloitte and Google Cloud selected one winner and four companies for special commendation. The winner is the Romanian software company DRUID, which developed an end-to-end platform guided by artificial intelligence and chatbot solutions, which enables the automation of business processes and the improvement of the user experience. Specially praised companies are Hermix from Romania, Born Digital from the Czech Republic, Seerlinq from Slovakia and Questpass from Poland.
Stars of positive influence
The fourth category of excellence in Central European technology companies as part of the Fast 50 program is Impact Stars, which was introduced for the first time in 2020. “This unique classification includes companies that successfully combine excellent products or services with a positive impact in at least one of the following areas: society, business, innovation, environment and diversity. Instead of measuring revenue growth, in this category we focus on extraordinary positive influence that these companies have in our society,” emphasized Katarina Pavlović.
Three Croatian companies were presented in the special category Stars of Positive Influence: Falcon Technology, a company for the development of hardware, software and machines. Focused on automation, from storage and product traceability to all other processes; Newton Technologies Adria, a leader in the development of voice technology based on artificial intelligence, and Monri Payments, a leading provider of multi-channel payments that has developed secure, innovative and integrated payment solutions for companies in various sectors, stated from Deloitte.