The Serbian IT industry, whose most significant part is tech startups, has strengthened its position in the domestic and international markets and has become one of the main pillars of the domestic economy.
In 2019, several important things happened for the domestic innovation community, say representatives of the Serbian startup scene. Serbia has been put on the global StartupBlink map, completed and started “million” acquisitions of domestic technology companies by world giants, Serbia has been among the countries where Google Play Merchant account is available since October 2019, innovation centers are opening.
“For ten years startups in Serbia are getting better, there are more and more and more investments”, says Zoja Kukic from the Digital Serbia Initiative.
When you look at the world startup map today, between Tel Aviv in Israel and Estonia, there are only Belgrade and Novi Sad.
“And that is the only point in the wider region that is shining, and investors and various organizations are supporting startups because they see that something very significant is happening in Serbia”.
The value of exports of the IT sector, the authorities say, will exceed last year for 1.4 billion euros. According to a report by the global startup company Genome, which cooperates with more than 300 startup communities in the world, Serbia is recording the largest growth of registered innovative companies in the world, with estimates that between 200 and 400 newly registered startups are currently operating in the country, mostly in Novi Sad and Belgrade, but also Nis, Subotica, Zrenjanin.
The success of Serbian companies in international contexts is also demonstrated by the example of Sasa Popovic and his business partner Vladan Ostojic, who today run the Novi Sad-based company Vega IT Sourcing, which employs 200 IT professionals. It advises young startups to “get out” their idea to the market before they go in search of investors and thus check its value. Today, colleges do not teach young people how to sell their product or service, and how to approach investors.
But a good idea, previously recognized and evaluated by the market, will be supported by Serbian “business angels”, adds Popovic, whose company, through the Digital Serbia Initiative, helps develop domestic startups.
The Serbian gaming industry, for example, as well as our blockchain experts, have already been recognized internationally.
In order to accelerate the development of this sector and unleash all the potential it carries, it is necessary, they say, to further change the laws, provide easier access to money and invest more in the education of IT professionals.
The biggest challenge for the state in 2020 is the question of how to provide additional incentives and retain IT professionals in the country, according to Startit founder and CEO Vukasin Stojkov.
Well-known Internet entrepreneur and conceptual creator of numerous startup projects Rade Joksimovic points out that when he started his first startup at 19, which he sold for six figures two years later, the real startup scene in Serbia was almost non-existent.
“The problem is that access to capital in Serbia is rather limited when it comes to startups, which is why it is necessary for the state to engage further and provide incentives for technology innovation funds to come to Serbia”, Joksimovic said for Dnevnik.
