Croatia is a “catching up” country achieving 73% of EU GDP per capita in 2022, compared with 61% in 2013, when Croatia joined EU. Innovative minority of small and medium-sized businesses are crucial for contributing to the competitiveness on global markets. Eight identified hidden champions are from different sectors and different regions. Four presented cases confirm that innovativeness should and could be spread all over sectors (digitalization in agriculture, IT in financial planning, manufacturing of drones and manufacturing equipment for maintenance of traffic infrastructure) and territorial residence (capital city, industrial city in the most deprived region of Croatia, village). The research findings in 2023 closely mirror those identified in 2021, confirming the validity of the recognized patterns of characteristics, needs, and the business environment in which HC companies operate. HCs operate in niche markets, with global focus. It is positive that innovativeness remains a constant feature of Croatian HC companies. However, the stability in needs (access to venture capital, investment in R&D transfer, availability of educated people in STEM and entrepreneurial competences) and the persistence of identified obstacles in the business environment suggest these issues have not been resolved, raising the question of why this is the case. In line with those findings, several recommendations to businesses, to the government, to the financial and higher education institutions were formulated.