Vukan Simić

EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Class of 2024, Serbia
CEO of FishingBooker


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Vukan Simić connects fishing enthusiasts with charter captains around the world. 

Vukan Simić grew up in Canada and has viewed the world in terms of its fishing spots ever since his grandfather taught him to bait a hook. He moved to Serbia shortly before the NATO bombing of the region, and during his childhood spent each summer on the Sava River, where his family had a boat and fished every day.  

Vukan continued to fish as an adult, but he always hated how difficult it was to go fishing somewhere new. He imagined a world where booking a fishing trip was as simple as reserving accommodation. He knew that there were public and private databases classifying the world’s top charter captains and licensed charter guides, but the challenge was organizing that information and making it available to consumers. With that goal in mind, Vukan founded FishingBooker in 2013 to consolidate all the verified fishing guides on one platform. Today, it is the world’s largest online marketplace connecting fishing enthusiasts with charter captains.  

The platform’s core offering is a one-day or multi-day saltwater fishing package on a boat with a professional fishing guide, whose licenses and permissions are verified by FishingBooker employees. Typical FishingBooker customers know how to fish but are not avid anglers, such as families looking for an interesting outing while on vacation. With FishingBooker, they have the opportunity to book outings at nearly 4,000 destinations on seas and major lakes around the world. 

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