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U.S. Expansion Could Be Next Step for Croatian Unicorn Infobip

U.S. Expansion Could Be Next Step for Croatian Unicorn Infobip

Infobip d.o.o., the Balkan region’s first billion-dollar startup, is on the prowl for a U.S. acquisition after the Croatian software developer with clients including Vodafone Group Plc, Uber Technologies Inc. and Burger King Corp. raised $200 million and saw revenue soar during the pandemic.

The firm that develops cloud communications for businesses using online applications such as WhatsApp wants to cement its position in the profitable North American market and acquaint potential investors with the company as it prepares to launch an initial public offering in New York as early as 2023, Chief Executive Officer Silvio Kutic said.

“Our first objective is to acquire a company in the U.S.,” said Kutic in an interview at the company’s headquarters in the Istrian coastal town of Vodnjan, Croatia. “We are currently scanning the market. We are always looking for ways to enhance our communications platform.”

U.S. Expansion Could Be Next Step for Croatian Unicorn Infobip

Infobip is part of a global sector that has grown during the Covid-19 crisis, even as the tourism and hospitality industry surrounding the company’s picturesque campus has suffered. With more than 2,400 employees in 68 offices worldwide, the company has hired 500 workers since the beginning of the year to keep up with demand. Among other uses, Infobip’s products allow people to use car-hailing services, for instance, by encrypting transfer data and keeping personal information private.

Profit Reinvestment

Revenue is expected to reach $1 billion next year, Kutic said, while gross profit this year is expected to increase more than 40% from last year’s 102 million euros ($120 million).

“We have been profitable since the moment we started, always growing, always investing,” said Kutic. “We grow organically, and we invest all the profit into the business.”

In July, Infobip raised more than $200 million from private equity company One Equity Partners, pushing its total valuation to over $1 billion, the threshold for becoming a so-called Unicorn. It was the only capital injection since Kutic’s parents loaned him 12,500 euros to start the company. Along the way to paying off that loan, Kutic and his partners grew Infobip to the fastest-growing company in Croatia.

The next step in Infobip’s evolution after expansion, Kutic said, is an IPO as a strategic option for further growth.

Product Rollout

“We are working on our IPO-readiness, adjusting our internal processes and the way we do financial reports, and we expect to be IPO-ready in 2023,” he said. “Then we’ll see when exactly we’ll get listed.”

Infobip this year rolled out three new products: Moments, Answers, and Conversations. Moments, for instance, provides enterprises with a choice of time, place, and platform for communicating with customers and choosing the optimal moment depending on whether they are in traveling, at home, or at the office. The company also donated chat-bot technology to fight the pandemic to 35 countries.

“Technological communication is still at its inception. Right now we can only do very few things via our mobile phone,” said Kutic. “We are trying to go deeper into technology, to include more artificial intelligence through all our solutions. The aim is always to give people more time from various tasks and make their lives better.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.