Croatia’s Infobip becomes region’s latest unicorn

Croatian full-stack communications platform provider Infobip has raised over 200 million US dollars (around 170 million euros) in its first private equity round from the New York-based One Equity Partners (OEP).

The new funding puts the firm at a unicorn-level valuation, and in a position to pursue strategic acquisitions in North America.

Infobip started out as a small start-up from Vodnjan in Croatia. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 people globally with more than 60 offices around the world. It offers a global cloud communications platform used by businesses to build connected customer experiences across all stages of the customer journey.

The company offers all of its services through a single platform, allowing clients to overcome the difficulties of consumer communications and grow their business while increasing loyalty. Infobip’s platform includes omni-channel engagement, identity, user authentication security, and contact centre solutions.

With over a decade of experience, the company can now reach over seven billion mobile and other internet connected devices in more than 190 countries connected directly to over 600 telecom networks. It serves and partners with leading mobile operators, messaging apps, banks, social networks, tech companies, and aggregators.

Infobip has been declared the best A2P SMS (application to person short messaging service) provider four years running by mobile operators and enterprises in ROCCO’s annual Messaging Vendor Benchmarking Report. It generated 602 million euros in revenue in 2019, with a compounded annual growth rate of 48 per cent over the decade.

“We have been deeply impressed with this team, and believe it has built a world class, SaaS-enabled communication platform, powering richer customer interactions for leading global enterprises, while also optimizing performance for its MNO [mobile network operator] partners,” says Chip Schorr, senior managing director at OEP.

According to Mr Schorr, both companies share a vision of accelerating Infobip’s pre-IPO growth in North America and globally by executing a series of strategic acquisitions.

Infobip’s CEO Silvio Kutić believes that the sort of conversational user interfaces the company offers are the future of interactivity.

“We’re headed towards a new era – which we call ‘interaction 4.0’ – replacing the need to browse the web or download an app with conversational interaction as the heart of communication. We plan on being at the forefront of this era, and this investment from OEP will help to get us there,” he says.

While the company has achieved global growth, it is also active in its home region. It is currently building its third campus in Bosnia and Herzegovina which represents the largest IT investment in the country in the last decade. Its offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina are key development centres for the company and employ the largest number of people after its headquarters in Croatia.

“Our long-term motivation is to keep young talents inside of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Dino Ibrahimović, Bosnia and Herzegovina office director. The One Equity Partners investment into Infobip represents one of the largest funding rounds in the region’s recent history.

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