Novi Sad, Serbia · Startup 3Lateral is a Novi Sad-based deep-tech studio that builds some of the most advanced digital human technology in the world, including high-fidelity facial rigging, performance capture, and AI-driven character animation pipelines used across games, film, and virtual production. Founded in 2004 by Vladimir Mastilović, the company became a go-to technical partner for AAA studios pushing the boundary of believable CG faces, and was acquired by Epic Games in 2019 to anchor what would become the MetaHuman Creator — the feature inside Unreal Engine that lets any developer ship production-grade photorealistic characters in hours instead of months. Even after the acquisition, 3Lateral continues to operate out of Serbia as a core R&D center for Epic's digital-human stack, making it one of the clearest examples of world-class computer-graphics IP built entirely in the former Yugoslav space and now shipped into tools used by hundreds of thousands of developers globally.
Novi Sad, Serbia · Startup ActiveCollab is a bootstrapped project management and collaboration SaaS platform built specifically for service businesses. Founded in 2007 by Goran Radulovic and Ilija Studen in Novi Sad, it originated as an open-source tool in 2006 before moving to a commercial model. The platform provides project management, time tracking, budget tracking, client management, and invoicing in a single product available as both cloud-hosted and self-hosted deployments. Over 50,000 teams worldwide rely on ActiveCollab, including organisations at NASA, Apple, Samsung, Nike, IKEA, Adobe, BBC, and Stanford University.
Novi Sad, Serbia · Startup CAKE.com, formerly COING, is a bootstrapped productivity software company founded in Novi Sad in 2009 by Nenad Milanovic. It is best known for Clockify, the world's most widely used free time-tracking app, launched in 2017 and now used by over 5 million users globally including HP and American Express — voted best overall time-tracking app by Forbes. The company expanded its product suite to include Pumble (team messaging) and Plaky (task management), rebranding the family of tools under the CAKE.com umbrella in 2023. The company reached $25M+ ARR entirely bootstrapped without venture capital.
Novi Sad, Serbia · Venture Capital Fifth Quarter Ventures is an early-stage VC fund founded in 2023 and based in Novi Sad, investing in startups across the Western Balkans and Adriatic region. The fund is led by General Partners Tihomir Bajić and Pedja Predin, both experienced operators who aim to be the first significant institutional investor in portfolio companies, taking board seats. Investment focus spans AI, developer tools, open-source software, Industry 5.0, and crypto/Web3. The fund received co-financing through Serbia's state Innovation Fund Serbia Ventures program and manages a portfolio of 12 companies.
Novi Sad, Serbia · Startup Mad Head Games is an award-winning video game developer based in Novi Sad, Serbia, co-founded in 2011 by Nenad Tomic, Uros Banjasevic, and Aleksa Todorovic. From casual hidden-object games through publisher Big Fish Games to action titles for global audiences, the studio has shipped more than 60 games and was instrumental in founding the Serbian Games Association. Known for the action RPG Scars Above and the upcoming Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival developed in partnership with Saber Interactive, Mad Head Games operates as an independent studio within the Saber Interactive group, drawing on 15 years of Unreal Engine expertise.
Novi Sad, Serbia · Event IEEE Zooming Innovation in Consumer Technologies conference at University of Novi Sad, themed 'Outsmarting the Narrative: People, AI, and Technology' — applied research and industry talks on AI, trust, and consumer tech.