Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has used Facebook to invite Dave McClure, the founder of a new kind of seed fund and startup accelerator - 500 Startups - and coorganiser of an investment tournament Geeks On A Plane (GOAP), to visit Zagreb this autumn as part of the GOAP Eastern Europe trip and McClure responded he was surprised and honored by the invitation.
On his official Facebook fan page, Josipovic wrote on Saturday that "with Croatia next in line to join the EU in July of next year, there has never been a better time for GOAP to come calling."
"A thriving startup community and the perspective of EU membership will turn the attention of many investors to the region - there's no reason why GOAP should not be in the vanguard of this trend!" Josipovic said.
"I would like to personally invite you and the GOAP crew to Zagreb on your Eastern Europe tour this Autumn. Here you will find a dynamic startup community, a political administration that is increasing its support for enterpreneurship and a warm welcome not only from Croatians but also from our friends in the region - Slovenians, Serbs, Bosnians and others," Croatia's head of state wrote.
Dave McClure soon responded with a comment on the status update to say: “Wow… I’m honored, and speechless”. McClure is a highly successful serial angel investor with extensive global experience in the IT and ICT industries.
