“You don’t need to negotiate. Just pick your people, pay the price, and run the campaign. Done. That’s Hypefy.” – Stjepan Zelić, CEO
Imagine you’re running a brand. You want some influencers. You don’t want drama. You don’t want to DM 25 creators just to get ghosted by 23 of them and overcharged by the other 2.
You want it fast, fair, and ideally… AI-powered.
Well, now you’ve got Hypefy.
Meet Steve: A Guy from Promina with a Brain Wired for AI
Stjepan Zelić — or “Steve” if you’re lazy like me — is not your typical startup founder. He’s a math guy. An electrical engineer. Born in the hills of Promina, raised on stories of resilience, and now leading a high-tech AI startup that’s fixing the mess that is influencer marketing.
He didn’t come from Silicon Valley. He came from a village called Zelići, with a detour through Ireland, Pašman, and an apartment in Zagreb. He built Hypefy during COVID lockdowns while others were busy learning to bake sourdough or bingeing Tiger King.
“Hypefy was conceived during the COVID lockdowns, a period when everyone was searching for something meaningful to do. It turns out, some of the best ideas are born in times like these.“
Translation: When the world hit pause, Steve hit play.
The AI Weapon That Finds Influencers So You Don’t Have To
Hypefy was founded by a trio of childhood friends and engineers — Stjepan Zelić (CEO), Filip Špiranec (CTO), and Davor Šibenik — who turned their pandemic brainstorm into one of the hottest AI startups in the Balkans.
Hypefy is simple on the outside. But under the hood, it’s all jets and lasers.
Here’s the pitch:
- Tell Hypefy your ideal customer
- It scans every influencer in the world (yes, literally)
- It finds the top 50 creators with matching audience and vibes
- It shoots off automated invites
- And boom — campaign launched, no negotiations needed
“You don’t negotiate. You pick. We match. We run.”
And the coolest part? They even scan the influencer’s actual content.
Using Azure Vision and a bit of AI sauce, Hypefy analyzes the last 10–15 posts of each creator. It filters for things like brand safety, swearing, content themes — you name it.
So when a brand says:
“We want family-friendly creators who don’t swear and post about food…”
Hypefy delivers just that — at scale.
The Playboy Story: From Facepalm to Deal Closed
One of Steve’s funniest stories? He sent a sales guy to pitch Playboy…
The guy didn’t realize it was that Playboy.
He thought it was some small brand named “Playboy-something”.
No prep. No slides. Just vibes.
“He walks into the meeting and says, “I’m from Hypefy,” and they reply, “We’re Playboy.’”
But guess what? They still landed the account.
Because even global brands are tired of the influencer chaos. Hypefy made it easy. One platform, clean data, fast results.
They now help Playboy choose their next Playmate via influencer analytics. Wild.
Real Talk: What Kind of Results Are We Talking?
Steve broke it down like a Balkan Gary Vee:
“If you used to get 5,000 views with influencer marketing, now you’ll get 10,000. If you got 100,000, now you’ll get 300,000. At least double.”
Brands like Nivea and Jaffa have seen double or triple performance after switching to Hypefy. Not because Hypefy has some voodoo. But because it matches the right content to the right creator at the right price, and does it at scale.
They now manage campaigns for over 250 brands, with 70–80 active at any time.
Why It Works: AI + Automation + No BS
Let’s recap how Hypefy is different:
- No negotiations. Fixed prices. Period.
- Recommender engine. AI suggests creators based on actual fit, not follower count.
- Visual analysis. It actually watches and understands videos before suggesting a match.
- Scaling power. You don’t hire 3 influencers, you hire 100 — automatically.
- Smart filtering. Age, location, niche, personality traits — all considered.
“Offer a fixed price and scale it from 5 to 100 influencers. The performance will explode.”
From Zagreb to the World (and Maybe Your Brand?)
In 2025, Hypefy raised €1.75 million from Interactive Venture Partners, the same people managing billions for Thomas Peterffy, one of the richest men in the world.
They’re now planning to take Hypefy global — from Slovenia to the U.S., one automated campaign at a time.
“First, make it look like you’re a legit company. Then you actually become one.”
Final Takeaway: Don’t Sell the Dream. Automate It.
Hypefy didn’t reinvent marketing.
They just made it not suck.
They didn’t promise 100x ROI with chatbots.
They just said — here’s your audience, here are the creators who influence them, here’s the price, go.
That’s the beauty of it.
So if you’re a brand, stop wasting time negotiating with DMs.
If you’re an influencer, get matched and paid — without the spam.
And if you’re like me, wondering who’s quietly building the future of advertising from a laptop in Zagreb…
Now you know.
His name is Steve. The startup is Hypefy. And the game just changed.
