accelerator
Startup
Factory
Award-winning Startup Factory is
Croatia’s first acceleration program.
It takes no equity or fees.
In 2021, the best teams / startups were awarded from a fund worth HRK 800.000,00 and continue to receive ZICER’s support.
We accepted projects that haven’t participated in other accelerators and haven’t yet received an investment.
Applications for 2021 are now closed.
Who could apply?
Teams
Without a registered company
Will be required to register a company with a company seat in the City of Zagreb prior to receiving financial support
2 to 7 team members with complementary skills
Startups
Companies registered less than 12 months ago with a company seat in the City of Zagreb
Majority of the company owned by natural persons
2 to 7 team members with complementary skills
Education
Mentors
Infrastructure
No Equity
PR Support
Networking
Financial Support
Alumni Network
All innovative and disruptive solutions were eligible. Main recommended areas of innovation:
Health and Quality of Life
Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Transportation and Mobility
Cyber Security
Food and Bioeconomics
Education
Robotics
Fintech
Tourism
Data/AI
Applications for 2021 are now closed
Startup Factory’s Sixth Cycle
Fall 2021
During the program, teams and startups worked on their tech product development and were guided by the program coordination team and mentors. The program was designed around three intensive 3-day bootcamps. Bootcamps include workshops, industry talks and networking events.
Startup Factory culminated in a Demo Day which took place at Zagreb Connect – the largest startup conference in Croatia. There, the teams pitched in front of a jury and audience, and the top four were awarded a total of HRK 800.000,00.
Bootcamp
& demo day
Bootcamp 1 — Validation (Oct 22-24)
- Lean Startup
- Design Thinking
- Sustainable Business Model
- Pitch
Bootcamp 2 — Development (Nov 5-7)
- Product Development
- Business Development
- Brand Development
- Growth Hacking
- Pitch
Bootcamp 3 — Finance & Legal (Nov 12-14)
- Financial and Business Plans
- Intellectual Property and Tax
- Crowdfunding
- Investor Readiness
- Pitch
Demo Day (Nov 23)
- Demo Day – Zagreb Connect
88
teams
158
workshops & industry talks
30
mentors
4,3
M HRK
awarded support
Zagreb Connect Finalists —
Startup Factory 2021 Teams
AssessMe
AssessMe utilizes advanced software solutions for remote work integrity and learning validation. This artificial intelligence-based methodology focuses on text-based digital task creation in real-time and provides detailed auto-analysis, visualization, and validation for the purpose of corroborating learning in an educational capacity and authentic professional performance.
Digicyte
In medicine, diagnostics from tissue, cell, and body fluid samples is still based on slow, and often subjective, manual examination under a microscope. By developing a more affordable tissue slide scanner, and using high-speed neural networks, Digicyte is enabling widespread digitization and use of Artificial Intelligence in tissue analysis.
EduDron
EduDron is an educational drone that provides the development of knowledge and skills needed for the 21st century. EduDron provides the development of additive technologies, electronic components, and programming. Also, it provides execution of small scientific experiments (air quality measurements, solar energy, etc.). The whole process is designed and adjusted for the kids to have a fun time.
Evap 404
Evap 404 is a temporary shelter for people affected by natural disasters. Natural materials, constructive logic, transportability and modularity are the characteristics of Evap that enable realization in a very short time without the use of tools. A simple architectural urban design and a wide range of applications such as tourism make Evap competitive in the market.
Flaster
Flaster is a marketing-tech company that allows brands to measure the visibility of mobile outdoor advertising and to convert from offline to online communication, where the audience who saw the ad on dynamic fleet of rideshare vehicles, sees the same ad on their mobile devices. A 2.0 platform is under development, which will provide more detailed insights into campaign and audience analysis, real-time digital retargeting, and fast international expansion.
Go Green Ozonator
Go Green Ozonator is an environmentally friendly replacement for pesticides in food production and storage. Last year, a team of scientists from the Faculty of Agriculture began developing technology for the precise and timely application of ozone dissolved in water, or biofumigant, to protect crops from pests in greenhouses and storage systems. With the introduction of the “Green Deal Strategy”, the EU has committed to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030 so the project aims to provide an innovative solution for the agricultural sector.
Gradivo.hr
Gradivo.hr is a portal made for students (elementary school, high school, college) with a goal of education and help in the fields of math and physics. It is the first portal that combines everything required so that students can understand and overcome school lessons, maturas, or college exams. Gradivo.hr offers different and more accessible materials (online script and video solutions), tools that are most efficient for making it easier to understand “the hardest” subjects of elementary school and high school education and approach most acceptable to students.
Manni
Traditionally, 3d printers are designed for individual production where after every produced piece operator has to manually prepare machine for the next part. All of this could soon change with the Automatization of 3d Printers – Manni project. Innovative system they are developing is based on manipulator system that will allow monitoring of several machines at once as well as automation of build surface replacement, leading to the cost-effective serial production.
Nobula Case
Despite the technological revolution, teaching techniques haven’t changed for centuries, and Nobula Case is an app that will change it all. Participants are in an active position and learn through interaction on real-life cases, instead of listening to boring lectures and reading. App is applicable everywhere, from kindergartens to universities and professional gatherings.
OnkoAI
OnkoAI is offering individual patient reporting and clinical testing for chemotherapy drug responses by utilizing the power of clinical data and artificial intelligence. With AI, it can predict if a patient will have a response to chemotherapy treatment or not, potentially avoiding unnecessary toxicity in patients and reducing costs in private and public healthcare. Their software and platform enable clinics to generate their own clinically validated patient insights.
Polypharm Solutions
Polypharm Solutions is an AI algorithm for recognizing drug-interactions accessible to both professional and consumer customers through a webapp. By identifying overburdened metabolic pathways, alternative and optimal solutions can be recommended. Both doctors and patients can input their drug regimen to optimize future prescribing and find out their probability of adverse drug events.
PsyFlux
Psyflux is an interdisciplinary team developing a device to measure intracranial pressure. Their vision is to make intracranial pressure measurement comparable to assessment of other physiological functions, in terms of accessibility and simplicity. They envision a future in which intracranial pressure is neither expensive nor complicated.
Coordination team

Frane Šesnić
Startup Factory Initiator & ZICER CEO

Željana Barišić
Program
Coordinator

Milica Projić
Program
Coordinator

Ivana Rajković Pavlić
Program Coordinator – Public Relations

Ana Vlahov
Program
Coordinator