How DeepL plans to make the world speak in one language

Imagine a world without language barriers. This is the vision of the German start-up DeepL, which has built an impressive list of corporate customers for its artificial intelligence-based translation services. So far, DeepL has focused on translating texts with unusually high levels of accuracy; Now it is launching a language translation solution.

The idea is simple enough. DeepL’s technology allows two or more participants to converse in their own language during virtual meetings. As each participant speaks, DeepL’s technology translates what they say into subtitles in the preferred languages ​​of everyone else in the meeting. The translations are provided in real time, so everyone can communicate with each other in a normal conversation.

“We are already a leader in written translation, but real-time voice translation is a completely different story,” says Jarek Kutylowski, CEO and founder of DeepL.

“When you translate language, you deal with incomplete input, pronunciation issues, latency, and more, which can lead to inaccurate translations and a poor user experience. These are the same challenges that one often faces in human conversations and that can lead to misunderstandings. That’s why we developed a solution that takes this into account from the start and enables companies to break down language barriers.”

Founded in 2017, DeepL was one of the first companies in the world to use AI to translate text from one language to another. While a number of providers now offer similar services, DeepL sees its competitive advantage in the AI ​​models it builds to optimize translation through constant feedback cycles. Kutylowski says this has allowed him to build much more accurate translation services, capable of dealing with complicated jargon and linguistic nuances.

“Technical and legal language is a particular area of ​​expertise for us,” he explains. The company is now able to work in 33 different languages. “You’re often dealing with unusual terminology with very specific meanings.”

As a relatively small start-up – although DeepL now employs more than 1,000 people – the company is less well-known than the large technology giants that also offer text translations. However, that hasn’t stopped the company from rapidly gaining customers: 100,000 companies and other organizations now use the platform – including large organizations such as Deutsche Bahn and Nikkei. This includes those using the free tier and those paying for licenses for the professional versions of the service.

“We help international organizations that need to ensure that all areas of the company can communicate with each other,” says Kutylowski. “We also support companies that want to become more global – instead of having to hire new employees in each new target country, they can initially rely on their existing workforce; We can translate their communications into the local language.”

DeepL believes that adding a language dimension to the translation service will be a game-changer. The new service will initially be available to speakers of English, German, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Dutch, French, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Italian, with translations into all 33 languages ​​DeepL supports. “The ability to translate video calls will be very important,” adds Kutylowski. “Spoken language is the next frontier.”

The first users of the voice service are impressed. Christine Aubry, internationalization coordinator at French bakery company Brioche Pasquier, was a user of the service during the development process. “DeepL Voice has truly brought our teams together, bridging the gap between our locations and opening the door to collaboration and teamwork,” she says. “I have tested other tools that typically only support one language in the meeting, but there is nothing like it.”

Such reviews have shown that investors have shown great interest in the country. In DeepL’s most recent investment round, which closed in May, investors including Index Ventures, ICONIQ Growth and Teachers’ Venture Growth invested $300 million in the company, giving it a valuation of $2 billion.