Launching a Startup in Serbia: A Guide to a Rapidly Accelerating Ecosystem

Published on January 14, 2026 and written by Cyril Jarnias

In the heart of the Balkans, halfway between Western Europe and Asia, Serbia has quietly established itself as one of the most interesting playgrounds for entrepreneurs, particularly in tech. Attractive taxation, controlled costs, a massive pool of developers, proactive public policy, and a growing network of incubators and accelerators: all the ingredients are there to create a startup in Serbia and quickly project it internationally.

A Surprisingly Solid Macroeconomic Environment

Without being a member of the European Union, Serbia ticks several boxes sought after by founders and investors. The country has attracted over 5 billion euros in foreign direct investment, obtained an “investment grade” rating from Standard & Poor’s, and other major rating agencies (Fitch, Moody’s) are also considering upgrades.

Corporate taxation is one of the country’s major assets. The corporate tax rate is set at 15%, one of the lowest in Europe, while the standard VAT rate is 20% (10% for certain goods and services, 0% for exports). At the same time, Serbia maintains over 60 double taxation avoidance treaties, providing optimized access to numerous markets.

A glimpse at some key parameters summarizes the country’s appeal for a startup founder:

Indicator	Value / Situation in Serbia
Corporate Tax	15% (standard rate, among the lowest in Europe)
Standard / Reduced / Zero VAT	20% / 10% / 0% (notably on exports)
Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties	60+ countries covered
Dividend Tax Rate (for individuals)	15%
Corporate Capital Gains Tax	15% (20% for non-residents, unless treaty applies)
Banking Sector Status	Highly developed, dynamic, digitized
Currency	Serbian Dinar (RSD)

For an international founder, the combination of “macro stability + light taxation + currency independent of the euro” creates an interesting ground for structuring a tech company that bills in hard currency while bearing local costs.

An Exploding Tech Scene, Driven by an Exceptional Talent Pool

The real engine of Serbia’s attractiveness lies in its IT sector. Today, ICT accounts for about 10% of GDP and is among the top four export items, alongside steel, automotive, and agriculture. ICT services exports reached $4.3 billion in 2024, a tenfold increase in about a dozen years, with projections pointing to $8 billion by 2030.

The ecosystem rests on a massive educational foundation: mandatory programming starting in fifth grade, over 45,000 IT students, some 3,500 ICT graduates per year from major universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, or Kragujevac. This is supplemented by numerous specialized master’s and PhD programs (notably in AI), retraining programs, and government workshops dedicated to new technologies.

A quick look at the structure of talent and costs illustrates the opportunity:

City	Average Net Developer Salary	Number of Major IT Companies	Average Freelance Hourly Rate
Belgrade	1,000 – 2,000 USD	200+	~35 USD / h
Novi Sad	1,000 – 2,000 USD	200+	~30 USD / h
Niš	900 – 2,000 USD	40+	~31 USD / h
Subotica	900 – 2,000 USD	80+	~20 USD / h

For a founder billing in dollars or euros, Serbia thus allows assembling a competitive technical team with a particularly attractive cost/productivity ratio.

An Already Rich and Structuring Startup Ecosystem

Serbia is no longer uncharted territory for innovation. The number of startups is estimated between 200 and 400, with an ecosystem valuation exceeding $1 billion and annual growth close to 20%. Belgrade alone concentrates over 200 active startups, but Novi Sad and Niš are also emerging as major hubs.

Local success stories are far from anecdotal. Notable examples include:

In fintech, players like 1stMobi Banka (100% mobile bank), Yettel Bank, or startups funded by the EBRD or the European Union contribute to modernizing an already highly developed banking sector.

Specialized investors are not lacking: South Central Ventures, TS Ventures, ICT Hub Venture, Omorika Ventures, SEAF Serbia Impact Fund, or business angels united within the Serbian Business Angel Network (piloted by the Digital Serbia Initiative). Several foreign funds – Eleven, Credo Ventures, Point Nine, SMOK Ventures, etc. – have already taken stakes in Serbian startups.

Investors and Specialized Funds in Serbia

Accelerators are also increasingly structuring the landscape: Katapult (flagship public program), ICT Hub, Impact Hub Belgrade, Startit, StartLabs, NINJA (program with Japan), EIT Digital Venture Program, and the science and technology parks of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Čačak. Many combine funding (often equity or quasi-equity) and intensive support.

A table helps visualize some key programs in the ecosystem:

Program / Organization	Type of Support	Typical Financial Ticket
Katapult (Innovation Fund)	Acceleration, coaching, non-dilutive funding	Up to ~300,000 € (scale-up track)
ICT Hub Venture	Early-stage tech fund	50,000 – 500,000 €
TS Ventures	VC fund	100,000 – 1,000,000 €
Omorika Ventures	Balkans VC	100,000 – 1,500,000 €
Impact Hub Belgrade	Acceleration + coworking	~20,000 € + services for 7% equity
StartLabs	Seed accelerator (US + Belgrade)	Up to 50,000 $

For a foreign founder, this network of support structures is valuable: it provides capital, local networking, a fine-grained understanding of the market, and often privileged access to initial major client references.

Choosing the Right Legal Form for Your Startup

Legally, Serbia offers a fairly standard range of structures, with some important nuances for those targeting a high-potential startup.

The main forms are:

– the limited liability company, the DOO (društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću), the most widespread form for startups;

– the joint-stock company (AD), open or closed, rarer at the start;

– partnerships (general partnership OD, limited partnership KD);

– the sole proprietorship (preduzetnik);

– the branch or representative office of a foreign company.

For comparison:

Legal Form	Minimum Capital	Number of Shareholders	Liability	Typical Use
DOO (LLC)	~100 RSD (≈ 1 €)	1 to 50	Limited to contributions	Tech startup, SME, foreign subsidiaries
AD (JSC) closed	10,000 €	≤ 100	Limited to contributions	Large companies, IPO, banks
AD (JSC) open	25,000 €	≥ 1 (no real max)	Limited to contributions	Listing, public offerings
OD (general partnership)	None	≥ 2	Unlimited and joint	Small structures, local activities
KD (limited partnership)	None (flexible)	≥ 2 (general/limited partners)	Mixed	Projects with passive investors
Preduzetnik (sole proprietor)	None	1 natural person	Unlimited	Freelancer, micro-activity

For a growth-oriented startup, the DOO offers several advantages: simplified formalities, the possibility to open capital to new investors, compatibility with incentive plans (founder shares, stock options structured via holdings), and recognition by banks and public actors.

Registering Your Company: A Largely Digitized Process

Company registration in Serbia is done with the Business Registers Agency (APR / SBRA), a true one-stop shop created with support from the World Bank and partners like Microsoft or USAID. The procedure is largely electronic and can be done remotely via a power of attorney.

The main steps to create a DOO are as follows (in practice, they can be completed in 5 to 10 business days for a well-prepared file):

Post-registration formalities include opening a professional bank account (with capital deposit if not already done), obtaining a qualified electronic signature for the director, registration of ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) in the dedicated register, and filing the first advance tax payment statement within 15 days.

Taxation and Incentives: An Arsenal Very Favorable to Startups

Beyond the 15% corporate tax rate, Serbia has implemented a set of tools that make creating a startup particularly attractive, especially in innovation.

Several mechanisms are worth knowing from the structuring phase:

For eligible expenses, these measures can significantly lower the effective tax burden of a young tech company. Combined with the possibility to carry forward tax losses for five years and the IP Box regime, they allow optimizing the revenue structure from software, licenses, SaaS platforms, or AI algorithms.

Employment, Social Charges, and Salary Costs

In the labor market, Serbia offers an interesting compromise for a founder: high charges on paper, but effectively compressed by hiring incentives.

Under the standard regime, social contributions amount to 15.15% for the employer and 19.9% for the employee, on a monthly basis capped by minimum and maximum limits. Personal income tax on labor is 10%, with an additional tax for very high incomes.

But a series of measures significantly mitigates this burden for startups creating skilled jobs:

The concrete consequence is that a young startup can bring its total labor cost to an extremely competitive level, often estimated at about 50% of that observed in EU member states in Central Europe. For some combinations of schemes (employment of long-term unemployed, R&D profiles, returnees from abroad), the total loaded cost can be reduced to the equivalent of about 20% of the theoretical gross salary.

Raising Funds: Public Funds, VCs, Business Angels, and Hubs

Creating a startup in Serbia is not just about taking advantage of favorable taxation: access to financing is clearly progressing, even though the market remains smaller than those of Berlin or London.

On the public side, several instruments are available:

Public tickets often combine grants and preferential-rate loans. For example, calls have enabled the distribution of over $3.5 million to about a hundred small businesses for digitalization and innovation projects, with support from private actors like Philip Morris.

On the private side, founders can turn to: private investors, venture capital funds, business angels, and crowdfunding platforms.

The amounts raised by Serbian startups remain modest compared to major tech capitals, but the trend is clearly upward: about $70 million in 2023, a record $846 million invested by the EBRD in the country the same year, and substantial funding rounds for players like Tenderly (€12.8M Series A) or other AI, gaming, or blockchain startups.

Setting Up in Serbia as a Foreign Founder

One of the most unique aspects of the country is the ease with which a foreign founder can obtain a right of residence. Business creation is one of the simplest ways to access a temporary residence permit.

There are several pathways:

The standard procedure involves entering Serbia (many countries, including the EU, US, Russia, China, or India, benefit from a short-stay visa exemption), registering the company, and then applying for temporary residence with the Ministry of Interior. Initial permits are often issued for one year, renewable, with the possibility of extension up to three years for certain types of permits.

For an international entrepreneur, this means that by building a real business from Serbia, it is conceivable, in the long run, to obtain a Serbian passport while still, for many, retaining their original nationality (the country allows dual citizenship in many cases).

A Modest Domestic Market but Very Dynamic in Digital

While the primary goal for many startups is export, it would be reductive to underestimate the Serbian domestic market, especially in e-commerce and digital services.

Online commerce has experienced spectacular growth: over 1.8 million people shopped online in 2019, compared to 1.2 million the previous year, and in 2020 there were already 3.3 million e-commerce customers. Estimates indicate that 70% of the population made at least one online purchase in 2021. Sector revenues were estimated at over $700 million in 2022, with a projection towards $1.65 billion in 2027, representing double-digit annual growth.

Cash on delivery remains culturally very entrenched, but the pandemic accelerated the adoption of electronic payments and mobile banking. Over 4.45 million customers had already subscribed to a mobile banking service by the end of 2024, an increase of over 15% in one year. The IPS NBS instant payment system via QR code, managed by the National Bank of Serbia, is becoming a standard.

For a startup, this context creates opportunity windows in:

– logistics and urban delivery;

– payment, fraud prevention, and open banking solutions;

– SaaS services for e-merchants (marketing automation, CRM, analytics, etc.);

– B2B services related to compliance (electronic invoicing, VAT management, local GDPR).

All within a relatively modern regulatory framework: e-commerce law, data protection law inspired by the European GDPR, specific laws on digital assets, payments, consumer protection, and advertising. This reassures international partners concerned about compliance.

A Fintech and Payments Regulatory Framework Already Aligned with the EU

For finance startups, Serbia offers particularly interesting ground, with a single regulator, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), very active on digitalization.

The country has implemented a law on payment services that introduces open banking, payment initiation services, and account information services, following the model of European texts. Payment service providers can obtain two main types of licenses:

The authorization process is regulated: the NBS has three months to decide on a complete application and can request additional information if the file is insufficient. Managers must demonstrate good reputation and adequate experience. Protection of client funds (insurance, bank guarantee, or escrow account) is mandatory, as is strong customer authentication for payments.

For a fintech seeking a more flexible jurisdiction than an EU member state, but already aligned with European standards, Serbia represents an interesting compromise, especially since the country does not yet apply automatic information exchanges like CRS under the same conditions as most Western countries.

Incubators, Accelerators, and Hubs: How to Get Support

One of Serbia’s strengths is the increasing density of support structures for entrepreneurs. They cover ideation, seed stage, growth, and internationalization.

Several types of programs can be distinguished:

– academic and technological incubators, such as the Business Technology Incubator of Technical Faculties Belgrade (BITF) or the science and technology parks (STP);

– multi-theme innovation hubs (ICT Hub, Impact Hub Belgrade, Startit, Nova Iskra, etc.);

– structured accelerators (Katapult, StartLabs, NINJA, EIT Digital Venture Program, Founder Institute Serbia);

– sector-specific programs, for example in video games, agritech, blockchain/Web3, medtech/biotech.

Impact Hub Belgrade, for its part, offers a package combining coworking, mentorship, investment (about 20,000 €) and acceleration services valued at 30,000 € in exchange for 7% equity, in line with major international impact hub networks.

For a foreign founder, these structures represent a natural entry point into the ecosystem: they open doors to the local network, provide quick feedback on the product, and help navigate Serbian administration.

Free Trade Agreements and Free Zones: A Gateway to a Billion Consumers

Although not an EU member, Serbia largely compensates for this with a mosaic of trade agreements that provide access to a global market estimated at over one billion consumers.

The country benefits from:

– the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU (preferential customs regime);

– bilateral free trade agreements with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein);

– an agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), in force since 2021;

– membership in CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement);

– integration into the GSP scheme of several countries, including Japan, offering reduced customs duties.

In addition, there are 15 customs free zones spread across the territory (Pirot, Subotica, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac, etc.) where companies can import, process, and re-export goods without paying duties or VAT. For an industrial startup or a hardware scale-up, these zones represent a powerful tool to optimize the supply chain.

Quality of Life, Costs, and Local Anchoring: An Attraction Factor for Founders

Finally, creating a startup in Serbia is also choosing a pleasant living environment at contained costs.

Belgrade, with its 1.4 million inhabitants, offers a rich cultural life, a fabric of bars, cafes, and restaurants, an art scene, and a well-established nightlife reputation. The cost of living remains well below that of major Western capitals: by various estimates, up to 50 to 60% cheaper than London on certain items. A founder can live comfortably there on 800 to 1,500 € per month excluding rent, depending on lifestyle.

Daily infrastructure is functional: potable tap water, public transport recently made free in Belgrade, fast internet networks (95% broadband penetration, average speeds over 50 Mbps), stable mobile coverage. The population is generally welcoming, English-speaking in larger cities, and rather curious about foreigners.

For a founder wishing to physically settle in the country, this “quality of life/cost of living” factor is far from negligible, especially as it helps attract foreign talent to teams (developers from the EU, India, the US, etc.), many of whom have already settled in Belgrade.

In Practice: Why and How to Choose Serbia to Launch Your Startup

When deciding on a jurisdiction, a founder typically asks a few simple questions: where to find the best talent at reasonable cost? Where can I structure my company with predictable and competitive taxation? Where will the regulatory environment remain aligned with the EU, even outside the Union? Where can I obtain a residence permit by building my business?

Serbia provides credible answers to each of these questions:

To these elements adds a very clear ecosystem dynamic: sector superclusters (blockchain/Web3, agritech, gaming & VR, medtech & biotech), large-scale regional events (SPLET Tech, Webiz, GITEX under the “Serbia creates tech” banner), associative structures like the Digital Serbia Initiative or Startit, and a government that now clearly assumes its desire to make the country a regional tech “hub”.

In summary, Serbia is gradually establishing itself as a strategic base: you create your structure there, build your product and R&D team, leverage tax incentives and advantageous costs, and set out to conquer the EU and the rest of the world from a Balkan hub still under the radar of most competitors. For many startup founders, this is exactly the type of trade-off that can make the difference between a promising idea and a truly scalable business.