In partnership with
Dear readers,
Today is April Fool's Day, but the entrepreneur in this edition is no fool! Kosovo-born Kristian Kabashi has already completed a nine-figure exit with his fintech startup Numarics and is now building Cybee, a cybersecurity platform designed to give small businesses enterprise-grade protection - while positioning Kosovo as a hub for globally trusted products.
From there, we highlight regional venture activity: Sofia-based INVENIO Partners closes the first round of its €75 million Fund III for high-growth SMEs in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, while Mandel AI secures $3.9 million to scale its AI solutions for industrial companies. Mobility innovation also lands in SEE as Zagreb prepares to host Europe’s first robotaxi deployment through Uber, Verne, and Pony.ai. Gaming fans get an update too, with Novi Sad studio Foxy Voxel officially releasing Going Medieval, already Serbia’s best-selling PC game with more than a $1M in sales.
We also cover the startup rumor mill, with developments at HeyReach stirring curiosity, and share insights from founders like Krasimir Kotsev of Kikimora on AI-first strategies, scaling challenges, and the realities of building startups under Europe’s regulatory landscape.
Enjoy the read!
Bojan Stojkovski
Editor-in-Chief, IT Logs
He raised $15 million, did a nine-figure exit, and wants to make Kosovo a cybersecurity force
Kristian Kabashi
Kristian Kabashi’s journey is a map of borders and ambitions. Born in Germany, raised in Switzerland, shaped by New York, and deeply tied to Kosovo, he is the essence of a global entrepreneur with local roots.
His career spans multinational corporate leadership, startup creation, and now the building of a new cybersecurity platform that aims to redefine how small businesses protect themselves. Kabashi is, above all, a believer in possibility: both in people and in markets that many still underestimate.
“I’ve always wanted to create something of my own. Working for big corporations taught me a lot, but I wanted to build a platform that combines technology, talent, and a vision you can scale globally.” he says.
And he did that a few times. From the award-winning fintech startup Numarics to his latest venture Cybee, Kabashi is now focused on building products that are both profitable and transformative.
From corporate leadership to startup founder
Before entering the startup world, Kabashi was part of the global leadership team at dentsu, a multinational with over 100,000 employees. “I was responsible for 32 nearshore locations, from India to South America. I learned how to manage distributed teams, navigate markets, and understand the operational backbone of large organizations.” he recalls.
But corporate life was never his end goal. In 2020, he founded Numarics, a Swiss company delivering bookkeeping, tax, and CFO services through a multi-platform SaaS solution. “Our goal was to take something complex and make it elegant and usable. We won 14 awards, grew from zero to 12 million euros in the first four years, and built a team that spanned Switzerland, Belgrade, and Pristina.” he says.
Numarics attracted major investors, including UBS, marking the bank’s first European venture investment, and raising close to 15 million euros. By 2024, the company was sold for an amount nearing nine figures. (the sum is not confirmed, but widely speculated about in regional media). “I always knew the potential was there. It was about building a vision that the market needed.” Kabashi tells IT Logs.
Yet even after a successful exit, Kabashi’s entrepreneurial drive was far from spent. “I wanted to create products, not just companies. And I wanted to show that you can build something globally from this region.” he says.
A personal experience with hacking
The idea for his next venture, Cybee, came from a personal experience. “Two years ago, I got hacked. I had an IT team, I even had an MSP, and we still got compromised. That’s when I realized: small and medium-sized businesses are completely exposed because the tools available are disconnected, complex, and designed for IT people, not business owners.” he explains.
Cybee was born from that insight. Based in Switzerland, with most employees in Kosovo, the platform protects devices, cloud systems, and data with automated monitoring, instant threat response, and clear guidance. “We wanted enterprise-grade cybersecurity for everyone, without the complexity,” he says. “You can onboard your whole company in three minutes, install the agent in under a minute, and you’re protected. What used to take days or weeks now takes minutes.”
The platform recently introduced an agentic layer and a virtual CISO. “You can now tell your company exactly what to do, generate training, create compliance documents—it’s fully integrated. Most global companies are under 15 employees, and for them, there’s nothing out there. That’s exactly the gap we’re filling.”
Why Kosovo is central to his vision
Kabashi’s choice of Kosovo as a primary development hub is strategic. “Switzerland is the highest-cost country in the world. For one developer there, I can hire five or six in Kosovo,” he says. But it’s not just about cost. “Kosovo has talent, real talent, especially in cybersecurity. And because I’m well-known here, it’s easier to attract top people. There’s also a strong Albanian network across Switzerland, Kosovo, and Macedonia. That connection is invaluable.”
Yet he is realistic about the challenges. “The talent is there, but the foundation is missing,” he admits. “People need discipline, reliability, and the mindset to build products, not just deliver services. When I started hiring, I realized I had to train people from scratch. But once you do, they can think outside the box, innovate, and deliver quality.”
He contrasts Kosovo with other Balkan countries: “Macedonia, Serbia, Albania - they have smart people, but they often lack exposure to structured product development. That’s the big gap we’re filling. And now, with AI, the potential is enormous. Suddenly, Kosovo can compete globally.”
Kabashi is critical of the region’s historical reliance on outsourcing. “BPO was fine for a while, but with AI, that model is dead,” he says bluntly. “Why outsource when AI can do the work? The only sustainable path is to create products that the world wants to use. That’s why I focused on cybersecurity. It’s a mindset-driven niche, not just code, and it’s something we can own globally.”
He elaborates on his vision for Cybee: “We want to become a beacon for the region. To show that you can build products here, globally trusted products, not just work for other companies. Kosovo has the talent, the cost advantage, and now, with AI, the ability to scale faster than ever.”
Kabashi also reflects on what Switzerland brings to the table. “Switzerland is about trust. European regulations are strict, and having a Swiss-based cybersecurity product generates credibility instantly. Kosovo gives us talent and scale. Together, it’s the perfect combination.”
Building the ecosystem, one product at a time
Kabashi’s ambitions go beyond his own companies. He is deeply invested in shaping Kosovo’s tech ecosystem. “Ask anyone in Kosovo to name three startups. They’ll struggle. Gjirafa has been around for ten years, maybe another one or two. But that’s it. Being the youngest country in Europe doesn’t mean anything if you can’t innovate.” he says.
He sees structural challenges: educational gaps, unrealistic salary expectations, and a cultural preference for immediate returns. “Here, people want good salaries from day one. But you can’t start a startup thinking about money in the first two or three years. You need the bigger picture, the mindset to invest in yourself and your team,” he says.
To tackle this, Kabashi recruits directly from universities, avoiding private institutions with weaker academic rigor. “I train them internally for months. It’s about building the culture and the mindset for product development. Once they have that, they can compete globally.”
He notes that this is especially important in an AI-driven world. “Before AI, Kosovo had little chance to compete. Now, suddenly, we can. AI amplifies talent, but only if it’s directed toward products, not just services.”
Reflecting on Numarics, Kabashi says timing and foresight were key. “We sold in 2024 because the market was changing fast. AI started making similar startups appear overnight. We would have had to rewrite the whole application to stay ahead. The exit was perfect timing. And I was ready for the next challenge.”
The big vision for the Balkans
That next challenge is Cybee, but Kabashi sees it as more than a company. He aspires Cybee to be a model for Kosovo. “The region needs to focus on niches it can own. Cybersecurity is perfect. It’s complex, requires experience, and demand will only grow. And with the right mindset, we can dominate globally.”
He is clear about what separates successful startups from those that fail. “It’s not just talent, not just money. It’s discipline, mindset, and the ability to think beyond instructions. You have to create the culture yourself. That’s what I’ve tried to do at Numarics and now at Cybee. And that’s what the region needs - products, not just people who follow instructions.”
Kabashi is candid about the region’s limitations. Population sizes are small, and developer numbers cannot compete with major tech hubs. “Kosovo has maybe 3,000 developers. Siemens alone has 10,000. We can’t compete by scale. We must compete by niche, by specialization, by creating products that the world needs,” he says.
He emphasizes the opportunity: “Cybersecurity is a global crisis. Europe wants trusted, compliant solutions. Switzerland gives credibility, Kosovo gives talent, and we now have the tools - AI, cloud, automation - to scale quickly. It’s a window that won’t last forever.”
For Kabashi, it’s about creating a blueprint. “I want Cybee to be proof that you can build globally trusted products from Kosovo. Then others can follow, and that’s how you build an ecosystem. That’s how you create unicorns, and that’s how you change the perception of the region.”
Sofia-based private equity firm INVENIO Partners has announced the first closing of its third fund, INVENIO Partners Fund III, aimed at supporting high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. The fund targets a total size of €75 million, following the full deployment of Fund II, which raised €53 million. Since its founding in 2014, INVENIO has focused on identifying and scaling businesses across Southeast European markets.
Mandel AI, an AI coordinator for industrial companies, has raised $3.9 million in a seed funding round backed by Y Combinator, Category Ventures, founded by Bulgarian investor Vili Ilchev, as well as Ritual Capital and e2vc. Within a year of launching, the company claims to have processed more than $1 billion in material spending across the aerospace, pharmaceutical, and heavy manufacturing sectors over the past 12 months.
The Invenio partners team
Zagreb is set to become the first city in Europe with a robotaxi service, as Uber announced it is partnering with Verne and Pony.ai to introduce autonomous vehicles on its platform in the region. The collaboration combines AI technology with Uber’s existing network and represents one of the first commercial deployments of self-driving taxis in Central and Eastern Europe.
The video game Going Medieval, developed by Novi Sad-based studio Foxy Voxel, has officially launched its full version. With over one million copies sold, the game is already being recognized as the most successful Serbian PC title to date. The full release adds new content and enhances the player experience compared with the earlier early access period, during which the game attracted a significant international audience.
The ops hire that onboards in 30 seconds.
Viktor is an AI coworker that lives in Slack, right where your team already works.
Message Viktor like a teammate: "pull last quarter's revenue by channel," or "build a dashboard for our board meeting."
Viktor connects to your tools, does the work, and delivers the actual report, spreadsheet, or dashboard. Not a summary. The real thing.
There’s no new software to adopt and no one to train.
Most teams start with one task. Within a week, Viktor is handling half of their ops.
Rumor has it…
The plot around HeyReach is thickening, and its management remains notably silent, with one source claiming they “don’t want to poke the bear”… at least not yet. The N. Macedonia-based company has seen its LinkedIn company page completely removed (not suspended, but removed) while the founder’s and co-founder’s personal profiles have also reportedly been banned, with no official explanation so far.
A Macedonian founder in the iGaming industry in the past 12 months apparently secured a $20 million exit - not bad for a market still finding its footing in Southeast Europe.
Heard about more tech rumors? Reach us at [email protected]
The Founder take…
Krasimir Kotsev, founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup Kikimora
IT Logs: What helps startups win faster: moving quickly or building something truly deep?
Krasimir Kotsev: The only way startups can succeed is by pivoting very fast and staying agile. The minute you stop innovating you're already falling behind. The only way to beat old school enterprises is to provide unique value and respond to each market innovation with the speed of light. Seek market verification immediately - go out and look for feedback, even if your product is not ready. This is the fastest way to achieve product-market fit. No one will wait for a perfect product, people want to have their problems resolved faster, time is money.
IT Logs: Do you think AI-first startups will clearly beat those just adding AI on top?
When you go AI-first you are doing what everyone else is doing at the moment. In 2 months your USP might not be there anymore and there will be a better solution. On the other side imagine you have a solution in place with solid architecture, foundation and capabilities well prepared to function within a specific customer context, and a tool built on solid logic and proprietary data analysis capabilities. One built over historical data and experience. And then have it AI enabled for automation. Which one would you choose?
IT Logs: What is slowing down founders the most: hiring, fundraising, or regulation?
Without fundraising very often there's no product. Without the right people in the team no money can help you. And regulations can put you out of business in a day if you fail to comply. Europe is hard place to build innovation due to the highly regulated landscape for data protection. Hiring on the other side becomes less important with the presence of AI agents. We stopped hiring developers back in December and are not planning on doing so. Now we can do more work with less people.
However, regulations are indeed behind many startup ideas, so there's a positive side as well. When it comes to regulation, European VCs are out of money at the moment and Risk Investment it just a word in the dictionary. In fact, times where VCs were looking for good ideas and solid core teams are over. Now it's all about traction, and no initial traction makes it really hard to get the money.
Upcoming events in the region…
The Adria Future Hackathon 2026 brings together young innovators for a 24-hour challenge in the inspiring setting of Kotor and Tivat (April 23–24). Focused on AI and sustainability, the hackathon offers participants (up to 35 years old) the opportunity to develop solutions to real-world challenges, with support from mentors and industry experts. With a €5K prize pool and the chance to present at the Summit itself, the event serves as a unique platform for learning, networking, and driving tangible change.
Applications are open until April 4, and interested participants can apply via the following link: https://adriafuturesummit.org/hackathon/
iOSKonf26 - May 4 - 6, Skopje, N. Macedonia
Podim - May 11 - 13, Maribor, Slovenia
SaaStanak 2026 - May 25 - 27, Sibenik, Croatia
Southeast Europe AI Summit - May 28 - 29, Novi Sad, Serbia
