As a child, he dreamed of building the fastest car. He said that he wanted to bring automotive manufacturers to Croatia. Forbes Magazine named Rimac one of the ""Top 30 Under 30"." the list includes the 30 best entrepreneurs under the age of 30 in the world, in 2017. In the same year, Rimac became the Croatian Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2018, Mate Rimac received an honorary doctorate from Juraj Dobrila University of Pula.