Cologne, Germany-based DeepL, an AI company that provides translation-as-a-service, announced on Wednesday that it has secured undisclosed funding at a valuation of $1B from IVP, Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and WiL.
The German company says it will deploy the capital to accelerate R&D, expand the product offering, and facilitate ongoing team growth.
While the exact figures were not disclosed, TechCrunch reported DeepL was looking to raise somewhere between $100M to $125M.
“DeepL has been changing the way people translate and, therefore, work internationally. Now, with additional support, we’re excited to continue investing in AI translation technology, but with a wider focus on communications in general,” says Jarek Kutylowski, CEO and founder of DeepL. “Recent advances in AI have greatly impacted how we communicate, especially in areas like business and education. Our goal is to use AI to make global communication as effortless as possible. To achieve this, we plan to expand our product offerings.”
DeepL: What you need to know
Founded by Jaroslaw Kutylowski in 2017, DeepL has developed AI-powered translation technology to overcome language barriers. The company competes against the likes of OpenAI, Google, Bing, and others.
The company says its team of mathematicians and engineers continuously trains its neural networks to detect linguistic subtleties and nuances that eclipse other AI translation competitors. It aims to make AI communication accessible to individuals and organisations to improve their internal and external communications.
The German company claims that millions of users and more than 20,000 businesses worldwide use its platform to communicate, including translating personal emails to localising corporate marketing campaigns, enabling multilingual customer service, streamlining internal communications for global teams, and more.
The company’s AI translation tool can be accessed through a web translator, browser extensions, desktop and mobile apps, and an API. Currently, DeepL supports translations in around 29 languages and operates across four European hubs in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Poland.
