From Money Motion to Automation Summit: Meet the Founders
In 2019, five people sat over a beer in Zagreb and worked out why the CEE region had no serious payments, fintech, or crypto conference of its own. That conversation became Money Motion. Five years later, the same team is behind Automation Summit: two days in Split, on 15 and 16 October 2026, for the 500 people working out what AI and automation actually mean for their business.
Attendees come from banking, telecom, energy, logistics and beyond. This is the origin story, told by the two people who put it together.
Where Money Motion started
Robert Penezić is one of the five Money Motion co-founders. Ask him about the founding moment and the answer is plain.
“Money Motion started as an idea from five people, now co-founders, sitting over beer, and chit-chatting about how in the CEE region there is no decent payment, fintech, or crypto conference. The rest is history.”
Robert Penezić, co-founder, Money Motion
The gap was real. In 2019, CEE had no serious payments and fintech gathering to call its own. Decision-makers were flying to London, Amsterdam and Lisbon to get the conversations they needed. Money Motion filled that space and has grown into the region's largest fintech conference since.
What proved harder than expected? Robert is refreshingly honest about the trajectory.
“I didn't expect anything, since the very thought of organising a conference was unreal to me. But I can tell you what is challenging: making the event better year after year.”
Robert Penezić
The audience feedback tells them they are getting it right. Every edition raises the bar for the next.
Why Money Motion got behind Automation Summit
Money Motion could have stayed focused on payments and fintech alone. It chose not to. The team went looking for another conference where their production experience could add something, and found Robotiq, the AI and automation collective already running Automation Summit as an industry event.
“We were intrigued by the prospect of collaboration with Automation Summit, and after a few meetings with the Robotiq guys, we realised the collaboration would be mutually beneficial. The conference would get a MoMo touch in terms of event production, with Robotiq expertise in terms of industry knowledge and skills.”
Robert Penezić
That division of labour is the shape of the partnership. Money Motion builds the room: the production, the curated programme, the sponsor experience, the on-site logistics. Robotiq brings the substance: the automation and AI industry lens, the speaker network, the technical grounding. The joint edition is what happens when both teams pull in the same direction.
What Automation Summit actually is
Darko from Robotiq puts it in plain terms.
“Two days in Split, on 15 and 16 October, for people working out what AI and automation actually mean for their business. It is deliberately mixed: executives making the investment decisions, but also the people who have to build and run the thing afterwards, founders, and companies with technology worth seeing.”
Darko, Robotiq
The mix is the point. And it shapes what happens in the hallways.
“At bigger conferences you sit in a hall, watch a keynote, and leave without speaking to anyone who matters,” Darko says. “Five hundred people over two days in one hotel is a different scale. You end up spending your time in conversations.”
The composition of the room does the work. Someone who has already deployed automation at a bank. Someone building the technology. Someone still deciding whether to start. “Those three people rarely meet in a structured way,” Darko notes, “and they have a lot to tell each other.”
What companies get wrong about automation
Ask Darko where regional businesses tend to stumble and he goes straight at it.
“They buy the technology first and then go looking for a problem to point it at. It should be the other way round, and the companies that do it the other way round are noticeably further ahead.”
Darko, Robotiq
The second miscalculation is where the difficulty actually sits.
“Expecting the hard part to be technical. It usually isn't. It is deciding what the process should actually look like, and getting people to agree on it. The software is comparatively simple.”
Process before platform, people before software. That framing shows up across the Summit's agenda, from the executive tracks focused on operating-model decisions to the practitioner sessions where teams walk through how a real deployment actually landed inside their organisation. The people on stage have made the calls the audience is trying to make.
Where it's all heading
The gap between companies that already have AI and automation running properly and those still piloting will widen, and it will show up in what things cost and how quickly they move. Darko is direct on what to do about it.
“What I would stop doing is waiting for it to settle. A lot of people are holding off until the technology stops changing every six months, and it won't. You learn this by using it, and the companies starting now will simply be further along.”
Darko, Robotiq
That is the underlying case for showing up in Split in October. To spend two days with people who have already started.
Why Split
On why Split, Robert doesn't overcomplicate it.
“Split in autumn is generally a great place to visit. And if there is an interesting event with lots of opportunities to network and adopt new ideas and knowledge related to the AI and automation industry, even better.”
The venue is Le Méridien Lav in Podstrana, a coastal resort about fifteen minutes from Split's old town. Two days, one hotel, the Adriatic outside the window, and everything the format needs in one place: main stage, breakout rooms, expo floor, and the kind of evening spaces where the real conversations continue after the sessions close. October dates put the event at the tail end of high season: mild weather, a quieter city, and easier logistics for attendees flying into Split International.
“Nobody has ever complained about that part,” Darko notes.
The honest case for attending
The commercial pitch is the one Darko makes best.
“You get two days with people who have already tried what you are about to try, and can tell you what it cost them. That is difficult to buy any other way. You will also see the technology working rather than described on a slide, which changes how you think about what is realistic.”
Darko, Robotiq
The audience Money Motion and Robotiq are building for is specific. Decision-makers in corporations. People who use AI on a daily basis. Entrepreneurs looking for best practices to apply. If that is you, Early Bird tickets are available now.
What comes next
Robert's ambition for the next few editions is characteristically grounded.
“First, we would like to organise this year's event on a high level and exploit the synergy between Money Motion and Robotiq. Then, I hope the event can grow in coming years and become the most significant AI and automation event in the region, just like Money Motion.”
Robert Penezić
Money Motion spent five years building a loyal and growing fintech community around a conference that set out to lead the region from its first edition. Automation Summit is built on the same intent, this time around AI and automation. The community is still forming, which is exactly what makes October 2026 the right point to join it.