[10] It is currently publicly known to be working with, or producing components for Porsche, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Jaguar, Aston Martin, SEAT, Koenigsegg and Automobili Pininfarina.

[11] Rimac has previously turned down offers to move his business out of the country, stating that his goal is to bring automotive manufacturers to Croatia.

[15] The family lived in Germany until 2000, after which they moved to Croatia, settling in Samobor, where Rimac's father founded a real estate company.

During high school, Rimac's teacher and later mentor, Ivan Vlainić, convinced him to participate at a local competition for electronics.

After that, Mate competed on a national level, where he also achieved top spot, which led him to represent Croatia in global competitions for electronics and innovation.

[21] Rimac won numerous awards in international competitions for electronics and innovation before turning 18, in South Korea, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Malaysia and Croatia.

[16] Rimac later admitted that if it wasn't for his high-school teacher Ivan Vlainić, who pushed him to compete at electronics and innovation competitions, he might have never built a company as those early successes taught him how to build something and have self-confidence.

[23] After the gasoline engine exploded during one race, he decided to turn the car into an electric one, inspired by the innovations of his idol Nikola Tesla.

It soon drew attention to the benefits of electric power and Rimac's talents as an engineer, in addition to setting a number of world FIA and Guinness records.

As Rimac, at the time, had no real company, employees or other resources, he told the potential customers that he could not build the car.

[29] Left with no other choice, Rimac decided to find engineering work for the struggling young company as a revenue stream, while trying to keep the development of the car going.

Rimac started to work for other automotive companies to develop batteries, electric powertrain systems or full vehicles as a means of survival, while, at the same time, building their own supercars and trying to find investors to fund bringing their own cars to the market.

During the initial years, Rimac was always on the edge of survival and having a hard time attracting investors to put money into a Croatian tech company.

However, after years of proving themselves to the industry, Rimac grew and eventually attracted significant investment from companies such as Porsche,[31] Hyundai and Kia.