Silvio Kutic: Turning a $27,000 loan into a billion dollar company

In the first episode of ScaleUp & Up podcast, we talked with our very own Silvio Kutic, CEO and founder of Infobip – a unicorn from Europe.

Silvio gave us an insight into what made him quit his first job after just a couple of hours and pursue his passion for developing communication technologies while running an organization that remained bootstrapped for almost a decade, having secured its first investment of 500 million in 2021.

Furthermore, Silvio and his co-founders did all this from a small village in Croatia with a population of just 3,000 people – some 6,000 miles away from Silicon Valley. Their work translated into the creation of Infobip, a billion-dollar company and one of the leaders in the CPaaS industry which is actively working with WhatsApp and Uber.

We talked with Silvio about the early days of the company, what it’s like to work with a family member and why the company chose to build their first campus in the same village where the company was founded. He shared with us how Infobip scaled its services to millions of end users, as well as his views on the future of SMS, WhatsApp, Message and RCS, as well as AI which is rapidly changing the landspace of communications.

A podcast about scaling companies – and people!

We started ScaleUp & Up podcast with a simple plan – to share the stories of successful scaleups and their founders. This podcast will emphasize the people who have bootstrapped their companies, or secured venture capital funding, and how they have scaled their products to millions of users.

The first three episodes will be out in January / February, with the first season coming later in 2024. Some of the guests include Ivan Ostojic (CBO @ Infobip), Mario Ancic (President @ One Equity Partners), as well as Amir Salihefendic (founder @ Todoist).

Meet our hosts!

Our hosts, IBB and Mia Biberovic, come from a strong journalism background. They are the founders behind Netokracija and ShiftMag, as well as hosts of leading startup and business podcast in CEE. Together with the team behind ScaleUp & Up, they are taking a deep dive into the thoughts of successful scaleup founders, investors and innovators.

Want to find out how Silvio scaled Infobip into a billion-dollar company? Click on the video below or find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Casts!