AI in finance, launching a startup, engineering talent: Croatian execs discuss

At the recent Finance Weekend conference in Rovinj, Croatia, Croatian startup founders and finance executives discussed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on finance teams and the advantages of launching a startup in Croatia. Luka Mijatović, co-founder and CFO of Farseer, a Croatian AI-powered enterprise planning and analysis platform, urged younger finance professionals to show "willpower" by learning the ins and outs of finance instead of relying on AI, which could compromise their career progression.

Hrvatski Telekom, a Croatian telecoms company, stated that AI would not replace finance teams but change them, citing AI's role in discovering "ghost payments" and making the process 90% more efficient. Matija Kovačević, CFO of Hrvatski Telekom, further explained that AI's biggest impact on finance departments will be data collection, moving from production towards interpretation.

Bogdan Jelić, account manager at Comtrade System Integration, predicted that AI would automate some finance department processes. Kovačević also mentioned that AI was currently a high cost for Hrvatski Telekom, but it would become revenue-generating over time.

Léa Raiche-Marsden, VP of Finance at Leanspace, a software platform, advised finance professionals not to be passive and to build alliances across different functions of a business. CFO Matija Nakić of Farseer shared that the company had recently raised $7.2m in a Series A funding round, which it will use for geographical expansion across Europe and the US.

Nakić highlighted the benefits of Croatia-headquartered Farseer, including easier access to enterprise clients and a pool of engineering talent. The company aims to have a free version of Farseer available for technical teams by the end of 2026.