The founders of 'startup' Cidrani, which operates in the healthcare sector, are currently focused on developing a machine learning model for personalizing fermented micronutrients and their own AI assistant, Ani. In the fall, they plan to open a production facility in Zagreb and by the end of the decade become the largest global company operating in the longevity niche. They believe that by 2040, they will clinically prove to double the average expected health span of their users.
'Today we have an established sales network and investor support'
In just two and a half years since Cidrani was founded in late 2019, the startup operating in the healthcare sector and engaged in the production of fermented micronutrients for increasing longevity by diversifying the gut microbiome has introduced around forty food products and dietary supplements to the market. Besides the Croatian market, it also operates internationally, where 40 percent of total sales and even 90 percent of the production of the brand Ani Biome are completed. It was founded by Bruno Balen and Nika Pintar, each holding an equal share in the ownership, and they plan to develop Cidrani into the largest global company operating in the longevity industry by the end of 2030.
According to Balen, they reached success through madness, courage, and a lack of experience that allowed them to embark on this journey with enthusiasm and faith that they could achieve what they planned. – Today, knowing what such a project requires and how complex it is, we wouldn’t have even started without a million euros.
However, that burning desire and enthusiasm allowed them to launch more than twenty products to the market in eight months at the peak of the pandemic, without a brand, experience, or the right team, enter over 250 retail locations, and build two brands. Today, with a team of ten people, an established sales network, investor support, and an internationally recognized brand, we cannot produce nearly as many innovations, and, frankly, we do not understand how we succeeded – emphasizes Balen.
After learning an extraordinary amount about the fermentation process, the rules and customs of the industry, the latest scientific conclusions, branding, sales, and production at that manic pace, they spontaneously arrived at the concept of fermented micronutrients. – When we made the first prototype in our kitchen, we couldn’t sleep from excitement.
Big Plans for the Future
At that time, I told Nika that we would surely have a company worth more than a billion dollars – says Balen, emphasizing that they are now on an equally crazy mission – personalizing fermented micronutrients using a machine learning model, based on data from multiple sources, building an AI assistant, along with diversifying a portfolio that is becoming increasingly functional and precise, which is an impossible mission without at least a hundred well-organized and excellently funded professionals. – We will probably say in a year that we would never have embarked on such a complex project without securing ten million euros, but that madness and lack of experience may be the secret ingredient that distinguishes those who take responsibility to make a difference from those who remain realists and never start anything – emphasizes Balen.
