Neverin conquers the region with 200,000 monthly users
Croatian weather app attracts over 1,000 premium subscribers in three weeks, and founder Alen Šterpin reveals how AI is changing the game.
Croatian weather app attracts over 1,000 premium subscribers in three weeks, and founder Alen Šterpin reveals how AI is changing the game.
Five years ago, the public met a physics professor who created his own weather forecasting app in his spare time. Today, that project, named Neverin, has grown into a respectable tech venture. It is used by more than 200,000 people monthly, and with the newly introduced premium subscription and a clear goal to become the regional authority for detailed weather forecasts, only the initial idea remains of the hobby.
Alen Šterpin, founder and scientific director at Climatic (a tool for assessing climate risks), worked systematically on development. "The app needed to be stabilized, build a follower base on social media, and gain user trust," he explains. The key technical breakthrough was a complete overhaul of the forecast engine.
Neverin no longer relies on a single source of information. It processes global meteorological models like ECMWF, ICON, ARPEGE, and GFS in real time, then combines them with data on waves, air quality, pollen concentration, and radar precipitation images.
"We developed a system that merges 10 different forecast models into a 'smart weighted average.' The forecast updates immediately upon the arrival of the latest data from each model, on average every hour," Šterpin told Netokracija. "We pull more than 100 individual radar sources from national hydrometeorological institutes, and every five minutes, we create a composite and radar prediction, showing the movement of precipitation in the future."
Introducing a paywall proved to be an excellent move. "In just three weeks since the premium version launched, over 1,000 users have created an account, which is the best confirmation of great interest," Šterpin emphasizes. Subscribers are primarily sailors, farmers, fishermen, and hikers-those whose decisions directly depend on weather conditions.
Utility companies have also shown interest in the app. "These are situations where one missed day costs much more than an annual subscription, so the premium quickly pays off," explains the Neverin founder.
Although most subscribers come from Croatia, the app is also growing in neighboring countries, especially Slovenia, Austria, and Switzerland. It is available in Slovenian, Italian, German, English, and Czech. "Users are drawn to the level of detail that sets us apart from large global apps. The first reviews coming in from abroad particularly praise the fact that multiple data layers are integrated into one app," says Šterpin.
A significant portion of international users are sailors and property owners on the Adriatic who use Neverin to plan their stay in Croatia. "We combine European radar into a composite image, provide quality nowcasting, and, crucially, show actual station measurements rather than modeled values often sold as current conditions. For someone sailing the Adriatic or simply seriously tracking the weather, that difference is significant."
Behind it all is a cloud infrastructure processing millions of data records. Future development will rely heavily on artificial intelligence. "We are developing our own advanced system that monitors all models in real time, their errors and deviations, compares them with actual conditions, and automatically makes corrections and improvements. AI will play the biggest role in further increasing forecast accuracy," reveals the founder.
Šterpin's ambition is clear: he does not want Neverin to remain a one-person project forever. He plans to develop specialized forecasts for agriculture, maritime, and healthcare, and gradually build his own development team. "I want Neverin to grow into a serious regional product for everyone for whom weather is not just a passing topic. With increasingly frequent weather extremes and climate change, forecasting is not just a conversation starter but something on which plans, business, and safety depend," he concluded.
