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Dear readers,
After last week’s coverage from SaaStanak in Šibenik, Croatia, we stay close to the Adriatic coast: this time heading further south to Bar, Montenegro. Better known for its port, railway connections, and role as the country’s main maritime gateway, Bar is also developing a parallel identity as a home for crypto builders, AI enthusiasts, remote developers, and aspiring startup founders.
We explore how a hidden tech community is unfolding between logistics hubs and seaside promenades, and why some believe the town could become Montenegro’s most practical technology hub. In this week’s Founder Take, we speak with Greek entrepreneur Rania Lamprou, who shares her views on what really helps startups win, where AI creates lasting advantages, and why hiring remains the most underestimated challenge for founders.
Elsewhere across the region, we look at Croatia-founded Fonoa securing a major $110 million funding round and expanding through acquisition, further cementing its position as one of the region’s standout scaleups. And in Rumor Has It, we double down on recent developments across the CEE venture capital ecosystem, as sources claim that more changes may be underway behind the scenes.
Enjoy!
Bojan Stojkovski
Editor-in-Chief, IT Logs
Can Bar become Montenegro’s practical tech hub?
Bar, Montenegro
While Budva built its reputation on nightlife and Kotor on medieval charm, the small Montenegrin coastal town of Bar became something else entirely: a place of logistics, warehouses, railway lines, customs offices, truck drivers, apartment blocks, and people trying to build a future between the mountains and the sea.
However, somewhere between the port and the palm-lined promenade, there is another Bar emerging. Not the tourist city, not even the working city, but a parallel digital Bar.
“There is some kind of hidden IT and startup scene in the country. It is, in a way, a parallel Bar that is developing.” says crypto entrepreneur Ivan Jolicic.
Jolicic knows both versions of the city intimately. Born in Bar, he spent years in Belgrade working as a manager in crypto exchanges before returning to Montenegro’s coast. Today, he moves between the capital of Podgorica and Bar, trying to build projects that connect blockchain, AI, and local development in a country that still struggles to decide whether it wants to embrace technological change or regulate it into paralysis.
The story of Bar’s technological ambitions mirrors Montenegro itself: ambitious, fragmented, full of talent, but constantly slowed down by institutions that move at the speed of paperwork while the rest of the world runs on exponential timelines.
Bar has structural advantages that most Balkan coastal towns do not. Around 46,000 people live in the municipality, with roughly 18,000 in the urban core. That means a year-round local market, not just seasonal tourism. The Port of Bar remains Montenegro’s main maritime gateway, while the Belgrade–Bar railway links the city deep into the Balkans. Real estate, logistics, hospitality, and trade all intersect here… meaning that the infrastructure is imperfect, but it exists.
Bar’s port
A startup ecosystem in its infancy
But potential alone does not build ecosystems. “Specifically, Podgorica has a science and technology center, Nikšić also provides support,” Jolicic says. “In Bar there is not much. But the municipality has been planning something for three years.”
Recently, during the Montenegro Future Festival, Bar also hosted its first-ever Claude meetup, a milestone that many local AI enthusiasts viewed as a small, but meaningful victory for the city's growing tech community. As Jolicic explains, the event was made possible through significant financial and organizational support from the Municipality of Bar and the Tourist Organization of Bar, alongside assistance from the Montenegro Esports Federation.
Ivan Jolicic (on the far left)
Their backing helped turn what might have seemed like an ambitious idea into a successful gathering, highlighting the willingness of local institutions to support emerging technology initiatives and community-driven innovation.
Furthermore, Jolicic also notes that such small workshops, initiatives and gatherings where developers can discuss AI tools, vibe coding, PHP, and startup ideas, are beneficial for the ecosystem. Still, he insists that isolated meetups are not enough.
“We need help to create a hub with access to new technologies, where interested people will be able to learn vibe coding, PHP, and other things. We already have a project that would be interesting for people who want to create startups in Bar.” he says.
In another era, Bar’s biggest export was olive oil. Today, one of its most valuable imports may be talent. Since the start of the war in Ukraine and broader geopolitical instability across Eastern Europe though, Montenegro has also become home to thousands of Russian and Ukrainian digital nomads. Many settled along the coast, including in Bar.
“In the whole of Montenegro there are maybe 10,000 Russian programmers,” Jolicic says. “There is real quality here.”
That influx has changed the atmosphere of the country’s tech scene. Events and conferences in Montenegro are now filled with conversations about APIs, crypto markets, AI automation, and SaaS products.
Yet, as Jolicic points out, Montenegro’s official institutions still appear disconnected from this parallel economy.
From unlocking Nokia phones to mining crypto
Jolicic’s own journey into crypto began long before stablecoins became mainstream policy discussions in Washington or Brussels. The roots go back to an entirely different technological obsession: unlocking Nokia phones.
“Our first contact with crypto was in 2013,” he tells IT Logs. “We worked on a distributed brute-force system because Nokia SL3 models appeared and they could not be decoded through a cable anymore.”
At the time, powerful graphics cards were needed for both password cracking and cryptocurrency mining. One client from abroad suggested adapting their system for mining Litecoin instead.
“That was the first touch with crypto,” he recalls. “We did not know exactly what was happening or what to expect, but somehow we understood it was the future.”
Mock-up of Ivan Jolicic and Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin
The transition from phone decoding to blockchain development sounds almost absurd in retrospect, yet it perfectly captures the improvisational nature of Balkan tech culture - as small teams experiment first and rationalize later.
By 2017, Jolicic and his collaborators were mining Ethereum and exploring blockchain infrastructure more seriously. “I was interested in why only Ethereum could create smart contracts,” he recalls.
That curiosity evolved into building wallets, mining pools, and eventually a larger coding team that grew out of their earlier SL3 Net operations. “Decoding was a good way to earn money at the time,” he says. “That was the foundation.”
Building Montenegro’s stablecoin experiment
Later came a more ambitious idea: a Montenegrin stablecoin.
Together with collaborators, Jolicic worked on research arguing that introducing stablecoin infrastructure into national economies could improve payment efficiency compared with traditional financial systems. Their scientific paper, published through ScienceDirect, became part of their argument when approaching Montenegrin institutions.
“It was really difficult because we wanted permission to test the system, even though regulation still did not exist,” he says. Eventually, they received a sandbox license allowing limited experimentation during events and demonstrations.
The stablecoin project became known as Perper, named after the historical Montenegrin currency used during the reign of King Nikola. “We wanted to have an authentic Montenegrin product because it was made here,” Jolicic says.
The project eventually included Ethereum smart contracts, audits by international firms, integration systems, payment applications, and partnerships with blockchain infrastructure providers. Technically, much of the system already existed, but legally, almost nothing did.
The problem with waiting for regulation
“We spoke with several companies and for them everything was legally complicated. We only had a sandbox license for testing.” he tells IT Logs.
Ivan Jolicic on the left
That tension defines much of Montenegro’s relationship with emerging technology. Politicians speak enthusiastically about innovation, but institutions move cautiously. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic himself came from the crypto and finance world and once described Montenegro as a potential “crypto paradise”, as expectations rose rapidly.
But then came delays, bureaucracy, and controversies surrounding figures like fallen crypto fugitive Do Kwon. “Now this technology is becoming old already, and we are still waiting for regulation,” Jolicic says. The frustration extends beyond crypto, and AI presents similar cultural resistance.
“In Bar you can really create something, especially with AI technologies,” he says. “There is interest among young people.”
Yet many developers initially resisted AI-assisted workflows. “We saw that many programmers did not want to work with AI. Other lecturers had to explain to them that it is better and faster to work with AI.” he explains.
Over time, attitudes began to shift. “I see it in my own team,” he says. “We convinced several programmers to use AI so they could earn more, have more free time, more projects. But somebody has to explain it first, and afterwards they see the benefits themselves.”
That transition reflects a broader global change now reaching even smaller Balkan cities. AI is no longer viewed solely as a threat to jobs and increasingly, it becomes a productivity layer enabling smaller teams to compete internationally.
The advantage of being a working city
But structural problems remain. “If you want to work in software here, unfortunately you still need to go to Podgorica,” Jolicic says. “That is where companies work with juniors and where people can learn.”
Bar still lacks the density needed for a mature ecosystem. There are scattered offices, remote workers, a handful of startups, and freelancers building products for foreign markets. Some work in crypto, others in marketing automation, SaaS tools, or tourism software.
It would be easy to dismiss Bar as peripheral in the global technology landscape. Yet many technological revolutions begin exactly this way: in overlooked places where affordability, infrastructure, and necessity intersect.
That possibility still depends on whether Montenegro learns to move faster than its own bureaucracy. For now, people like Jolicic continue operating somewhere between optimism and exhaustion.
Ivan Jolicic
His most successful startup, however, may not be one he ever formally founded. While helping build Montenegro's growing AI and technology community, he was equally proud of a more personal achievement: his eldest son, Aleksandar.
A fourth-year student at Utah Tech University majoring in cybersecurity, Aleksandar recently received the university's 2026 Academic Achievement Award, a recognition of his academic excellence and dedication. Jolicic jokingly refers to him as his most successful startup yet - a project decades in the making that, unlike any company, required equal parts patience, guidance, and belief.
Jolicic once also joined a civic movement focused on developing Bar’s IT sector. There were ideas for local digital initiatives, specialized domains, startup support structures, and municipal tech development. “Nothing came from it,” he admits.
Still, he keeps building, because in towns like Bar, technology only survives through persistence, improvisation, and a firm belief that eventually the rest of the system will catch up. “Enthusiasm is not what we lack, but results are.” Jolicic concludes.
Across the region…
Croatia-founded tax automation platform Fonoa, which is headquartered in Dublin, has raised $110 million in a Series C funding round and acquired the Indirect Tax Edge platform from PwC. The combined move provides the company with additional capital to accelerate growth while expanding its indirect tax compliance capabilities as businesses increasingly seek automated solutions for managing complex global tax requirements.
Croatian-founded Fonoa raised $110 million
Greek venture capital firm Big Pi Ventures has led a $30 million Series B funding round in Australian robotics company August Robotics, supporting the expansion of its autonomous robot fleets that drill and mark floors at hyperscale construction sites around the world. The investment will help the company scale deployment of its construction automation technology as demand grows for robotics solutions in large-scale building projects.
London-based Gradient Labs, an AI customer operations platform for financial services co-founded by Greek entrepreneur Danai Antoniou, has raised $26 million in a Series A round led by Octopus Ventures and CommerzVentures. The startup develops AI agents that automate customer support, lending, fraud management, and compliance workflows for financial institutions.
Romanian angel investor and former TechAngels Romania president Marius Istrate has officially joined 3VC as a Partner after spending six years as an angel investor and Venture Partner with the firm. Based in Bucharest and investing across Europe, Istrate has backed 28 startups as an angel investor and says he will focus on supporting post-product-market-fit companies, helping founders scale with operational expertise as well as capital.
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Rumor has it…
The CEE venture capital ecosystem may be entering a new phase of talent reshuffling. Multiple sources suggest that several well-known figures are considering moves between funds, with some operators-turned-investors reportedly exploring larger platforms and broader mandates. While partner transitions are nothing new in more mature markets, they have historically been rare in CEE, where venture firms tend to have stable leadership teams and long-standing relationships.
Sources across the regional startup and mobility ecosystem are still trying to make sense of Porsche’s decision to shut down its electric bicycle division instead of pursuing a sale. The move will see the closure of Porsche eBike Performance and around 500 job cuts globally, including more than 100 positions in Croatia at the former Greyp facility founded by Mate Rimac.
More tech rumors? Ping us at [email protected]
The Founder take…
Rania Lamprou, co-founder and CEO of e-commerce startup Simpler
IT Logs: What helps startups win faster: moving quickly or building something truly deep?
Rania Lamprou: Most founders confuse moving fast with shipping fast. They're not the same.. Moving fast means learning fast, i.e. closing the loop between hypothesis and feedback. Building deep means compounding on the things that matter. In commerce, depth shows up in places customers don't see: how we recognise a returning shopper across merchants, how we sequence the checkout, the data that accumulates. The visible part of the product changes weekly. The invisible part changes once a year. Both matter.
IT Logs: Do you think AI-first startups will clearly beat those just adding AI on top?
No, not clearly. It depends on the category. Where AI is the product itself (generative content, transcription, code), AI-first companies will win. Where the real value is a workflow, a customer relationship, or proprietary data, incumbents who add AI on top will win, because they already own what AI can't replicate. The wrappers in the middle (thin layers on someone else's model with nothing else to defend), those will die fastest. We're not AI-first. We're the infrastructure underneath every European checkout: payments, shipping, identity, tax, across 27 markets. That's the unsexy work AI can't replace. AI helps in places. It isn't the pitch.
IT Logs: What is slowing down founders the most: hiring, fundraising, or regulation?
Hiring. The other two come in waves.. fundraising you do every couple of years, regulation hits when something changes and then you adjust. Hiring is the only one that never stops. Every week there's someone to find, someone to bring up to speed, someone leaving, or a hole you wish you had already filled. The bad senior hires are the worst - they don't fail dramatically, they just quietly cost you half a year. That's the part nobody warns you about.
Upcoming events in the region…
UNCHAIN Festival - June 17-18, Oradea, Romania
