The Croatian Revolution: Daytona Secures $24M to Build th...

In the history of technological development, there are specific moments that define a paradigm shift. The transition from mainframes to Personal Computers (PCs) changed how we work; the rise of the Cloud changed how we store data. Today, in 2026, we are witnessing a third great wave: the shift from infrastructure built for humans to infrastructure built exclusively for AI agents. At the helm of this revolution is the Croatian startup Daytona.

The End of the Mac Mini Era: Why AI Needs a New Kind of Hardware?

In recent months, the tech community has witnessed a fascinating phenomenon. Enthusiasts and early adopters of AI technology are mass-purchasing Mac Minis and similar compact computers to run systems like OpenClaw locally. The reason is simple: AI agents—autonomous software entities that can write code, browse the web, and execute tasks without human supervision—need a "place" to work.

However, as Daytona co-founder Ivan Burazin points out, what works for hobbyists is unusable for global industry.

"At the level of an individual enthusiast, a Mac Mini makes sense. It’s the same as someone once having their own server in the basement," Burazin explains. "But the moment companies like OpenAI, Figma, or Datadog want to integrate thousands of agents solving problems for millions of users simultaneously, physical machines become a bottleneck. You cannot have ten million Mac Minis in a basement. You need a solution that is elastic, instantaneous, and fully programmable. That is where Daytona comes in with its sandbox concept."

What are "Composable Computers" Actually?

The core of Daytona's technology isn't just "virtual server rental." What Burazin, Goran Draganić, and Vedran Jukić have developed is a completely new paradigm they call composable computers.

In a traditional Cloud environment (like AWS or Azure), spinning up a virtual machine can take seconds or even minutes. For a human user, this is acceptable. For an AI agent operating in milliseconds, it is an eternity.

Daytona’s sandboxes are optimized for:

Speed: Launching in a fraction of a second.
Temporality: The agent finishes the task, and the computer shuts down instantly, consuming no further resources.
Forking (Branching): Much like developers "fork" code on GitHub, an AI agent can duplicate its entire working environment in a millisecond to test two different solutions to a problem in parallel.

Deep Integration: These sandboxes come with a pre-configured operating system, memory, GPU support, and network access—all delivered as a software primitive managed by AI via API.

The Path from Development Environments to AI Infrastructure

Daytona did not become an AI company overnight. Their journey is a classic example of a smart pivot (strategic shift). Initially, the company focused on providing self-hosted development environments, positioning itself as an alternative to GitHub Codespaces. The goal was to provide programmers with standardized environments regardless of their location.

Their first $2 million round attracted the "cream of the crop" of investors from the dev-tool world (founders of Postman, Honeycomb, and Supabase) as well as local tech heavyweights like Damir Sabol (Photomath), Alan Sumina (Nanobit), Tomislav Car, and Luka Abrus (Infinum).

A second round of $5 million focused on runtime environments and GPU support. However, the true breakthrough happened when the team realized their technology was being used less by people and more by—other programs. They realized they had built the perfect "cage" (sandbox) where AI could safely execute code without endangering the rest of the system.

This pivot brought incredible results: in just a few months, the new infrastructure generated $1 million in ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue). This was a clear signal from the market that the need for such a solution was critical.

An Investment That Changes the Rules of the Game

The new $24 million round, led by FirstMark Capital, places Daytona at the very top of the European startup ecosystem. The presence of investors like Pace Capital, Upfront Ventures, and the investment arms of tech giants like Datadog and Figma suggests that the industry now views Daytona as the standard.

Matt Turck of FirstMark Capital, who joins Daytona's board as part of this investment, clearly articulated the reason for their move: "We believe a shift is occurring from human-centric cloud infrastructure to one intended for agents. Daytona turns the ‘computers for agents’ paradigm from theory into practice."

This is the key: today's cloud (AWS, Google Cloud) is designed for applications that serve humans. The future cloud will be designed for applications that serve other applications.

Growth Strategy: Split, Zagreb, San Francisco

Daytona plans to invest the secured funds into three key pillars:

Proprietary Infrastructure (Agent Cloud): While it may seem paradoxical for a software company to invest in its own servers, for Daytona, it is a necessity. To ensure millisecond latency and specific GPU configurations required for modern LLMs (Large Language Models), they must have control over the "iron" (hardware). Building their own Cloud for agents allows for a level of cost-efficiency they couldn't achieve by simply reselling existing cloud services.
Team Expansion and Global Presence: Daytona plans to hire at least 25 new experts during 2026, distributed between Split, Zagreb, and their new office in San Francisco. This "triangle" strategy allows them to retain top engineering talent from Croatia while simultaneously being at the heart of the action in Silicon Valley, where key decisions regarding AI standards are made.
Education and Brand Experience: Burazin emphasizes the importance of defining this new category. "Customers first must understand why the cloud as it exists today doesn't work for agents." Investing in their developer brand, community, events, and market presence will be key to establishing Daytona as the authority in this new sector.

Why is This Important for Croatia?

Daytona's success is proof of the maturity of the Croatian tech scene. It is no longer just about "outsourcing" or service-based businesses. This is about the development of DeepTech that solves fundamental problems of global digital infrastructure.

When founders like those at Daytona—who have already navigated the ups and downs of the tech industry (Burazin's history with Codeanywhere and Infobip)—launch a new project, they bring invaluable experience. Their ability to attract major foreign venture capital and local angel investors in the same round shows a level of trust that goes far beyond just "chasing an AI trend."

Vision of the Future: "Give Me a Mil or Two!"

Ivan Burazin’s final thought best summarizes the spirit of the times: "While you are installing OpenClaw on a Mac Mini, your AI agent is looking at Daytona and thinking: ‘Give me a mil or two!’"

This sentence, though humorous, hides a profound truth. AI agents will soon become the most numerous users of the internet. They will consume more processing power, memory, and network traffic than all humans combined. These agents won't sit in front of screens waiting for a page to load; they will execute millions of operations in the background to make our lives easier.

Daytona is building the "apartments" and "offices" for these agents. Without them, the AI revolution remains trapped in lab conditions or on the expensive physical machines of individuals. With Daytona, AI is granted the space for infinite scaling.

With $24 million in the bank, a clear vision, and a team that understands both the hardware and software aspects of the challenge, Daytona is ready to become a titan in the new era of computing. Their transition from tools for people to infrastructure for agents is more than a business move—it is an anticipation of a future that has already arrived.

Croatia may be a small country, but in the world of AI agents—where borders blur at the speed of light—Daytona has just become one of the world's largest owners of "digital real estate." An exciting 2026 lies ahead as we watch these sandboxes evolve into the foundation of a new global economy.

The Triumph of Local Talent: Congratulations to the Team Changing the World

Daytona's success is not just a triumph for its three visionaries—Ivan, Goran, and Vedran—but also a massive source of pride for the entire Croatian tech community. Watching a startup that originated in Split (and specifically from our University faculty) and Zagreb now dictate trends in the heart of Silicon Valley is irrefutable proof that our local talent doesn't just keep pace with global innovations—it leads them.

Daytona has once again shown that the most complex infrastructure systems shaping the future of the digital age can be built right here in Croatia. We congratulate the entire team on this historic milestone. Your success is an inspiration to new generations of developers and entrepreneurs, and your courage to redefine an entire industry deserves a deep bow. Bravo, Daytona—you’ve shown that boundaries only exist to be pushed!