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Key people at EMAKINA Central & Eastern Europe.
EMAKINA Central & Eastern Europe is a Vienna, Austria-based digital agency that provides web design, application development, e-commerce platforms, and digital transformation services to corporate clients. Operating as a regional division of the broader Emakina Group, the organization leverages a global network of over 1,100 digital experts distributed across 26 offices in 18 countries. The agency generates revenue through project-based consulting and marketing services across the financial, retail, energy, and automotive sectors. The firm develops digital experiences and technology solutions for notable enterprise customers including Nike, Honda, and Intersport. In November 2021, the parent organization was acquired by EPAM Systems to expand its digital experience practice across international markets. The regional division was originally founded as diamond:dogs|group in 1999 before its 2015 integration into the Emakina Group, which was established by Brice Le Blevennec.
Key people at EMAKINA Central & Eastern Europe.
Emakina Central & Eastern Europe is a regional division of the Emakina Group, a Belgium-based digital agency network specializing in digital transformation, marketing, e-commerce, and technology services, now integrated into EPAM Systems since 2021.[1][2][3] It operates as "the User Agency," focusing on user-centric digital experiences through engineering, design, and strategy, with a strong presence in countries like Serbia (Emakina.RS), Poland, Croatia, Austria, Sweden, and others in Central and Eastern Europe.[1][3][4][5] The division serves global brands in retail, automotive, finance, and energy, building e-commerce platforms, applications, and analytics solutions on technologies like JavaScript, .NET, Kubernetes, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Salesforce), and more, while solving challenges in customer engagement, sales, and digital operations.[3][4][7]
Growth has been robust, expanding from mergers and acquisitions to over 1,100 employees group-wide pre-acquisition, with Emakina.RS alone generating $9.7 million in revenue and earning recognition for top employee selection processes.[1][2][4] Post-EPAM acquisition, it leverages enhanced engineering for high-performance marketing and creative services across EMEA.[2]
Emakina Group, parent of the Central & Eastern Europe division, originated in 2001 from the merger of digital design studio Ex Machina (founded 1999 by Brice Le Blevennec at age 23) and e-business agency Emalaya (started 1998 by Denis Steisel), initially with 35 employees.[1][3] Expansion into Central & Eastern Europe accelerated post-2006 Euronext listing (ALEMK), with acquisitions of agencies in Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Austria, Sweden, and beyond, reaching 26 offices in 18 countries by 2021.[1][3]
A pivotal moment came in December 2021 when EPAM Systems acquired the group, boosting its tech capabilities; locally, Emakina.RS in Novi Sad, Serbia, emerged as a key engineering hub focused on e-commerce for global brands.[2][4] This evolution shifted from independent agencies to an EPAM-backed powerhouse, recently rebranded elements toward "Empathy Lab" emphasizing AI-native, human-first approaches.[8]
Emakina Central & Eastern Europe rides the wave of digital transformation in EMEA, blending creative agencies with engineering amid rising demand for composable commerce, AI-driven personalization, and cloud-native e-commerce.[2][3][7][8] Timing aligns with post-pandemic shifts to omnichannel retail and data analytics, where CEE's cost-effective talent pools (e.g., Serbia's engineering hubs) fuel scalable solutions for global brands.[4]
Market forces like EPAM's scale enable competition against pure tech giants, while influencing ecosystems through partnerships (e.g., commercetools, Contentful) and proactive customer orchestration—pioneering "AI-native" models that merge human insight with tech precision.[3][7][8]
Emakina Central & Eastern Europe is poised for accelerated growth within EPAM, expanding AI-native services like Empathy Lab to lead in predictive marketing and hyper-personalized e-commerce.[8] Trends in composable architecture, edge computing, and regulated AI will shape its path, amplifying CEE's role as Europe's engineering backbone amid talent shortages elsewhere.[4][7]
Its influence may evolve from regional executor to global innovator, empowering brands in volatile markets—reinforcing the user-first ethos that defined its rise from a 2001 merger to EPAM powerhouse.[1][2][8]
