Milpitas, California-based SmartCAT, a translation automation platform provider, has secured $2.8 million in seed funding. The backer is venture fund RedSeed. The capital will be used for SmartCAT to continue to develop its technology and help companies grow internationally.
PRESS RELEASE
August 9, Milpitas — SmartCAT, the developer of the namesake cloud translation automation platform, which combines all the latest translation technologies aimed at lowering costs and increasing quality in one solution, with a global marketplace of over 60,000 translation professionals, today announced that it has raised a $2.8 million seed round from venture fund RedSeed.
The SmartCAT platform is designed to optimize translation processes while improving translation quality at the same time. SmartCAT’s global translator marketplace allows companies seeking to localize their content to leverage an unlimited number of translators, editors and managers, thus dramatically reducing the time needed to complete a project. Customers have reported savings of up to 70% through the use of SmartCAT technology.
The SmartCAT computer assisted translation (CAT) platform prevents the majority of human errors with the help of translation memories, glossaries, intelligent QA checks and innovative AI algorithms, thus increasing the overall quality of the final translation. All users, whether they are freelancers, translation agencies or any other companies in need of translation, have unlimited and free access to SmartCAT translation automation technologies.
More than 1,500 companies, including Weebly, Epicor, Coursera, Adherium, YIT, Netcracker, GSK, many language services providers and over 60,000 translators from 100 different countries are already using SmartCAT. Every month users translate around 100 million words on the platform; a figure that continues to grow rapidly.
When it comes to project management, SmartCAT gives customers direct access to over 60,000 freelancers in a wide variety of language pairs and specializations. The platform provides project managers with tools and processes to quickly assemble project-specific teams, track progress and enable effective communication within the team. The latest addition — now in beta testing — is chatbots, which significantly reduce the time needed for executing analysis and reporting tasks.
Closing the circle, SmartCAT covers a translation project’s financial workflow, acting as a hub between end customers and all vendors and freelancers engaged in a project; all at the disruptively low commission of 10%. The platform earns revenue through the above-mentioned commissions, as well as the sale of on-premise solutions and additional services: expanded technical support, integration services, etc.
SmartCAT was initially developed by multinational AI software company ABBYY. In 2016 SmartCAT started its gradual spin-out process and became a fully independent company.
“Our management team has a strong track record in the translation industry, having grown several companies in the US and Europe from zero to hero,” said SmartCAT founder and CEO Ivan Smolnikov. “We started SmartCAT because we believed that cloud technologies are a blessing for many professions, and that the translation industry is no exception. By combining cutting-edge technology and a carefully garnered pool of translators, we’ve unlocked unique value for all market participants. Another unprecedented feature of SmartCAT is that it gives everyone — from freelancers to translation vendors and end- customers — the freedom to use state-of-the-art technology at absolutely no cost and without any limitations. We are proud to have a hand in fueling the business growth of our customers.”
“We first heard about SmartCAT through one of our portfolio companies,” said Ilya Shirokov, Founder and Managing Partner at RedSeed. “They were using SmartCAT to automate their translation processes and this significantly reduced their operating costs. As we learned more about SmartCAT, we became extremely impressed with the sophistication of their platform and the dedication of their team. SmartCAT is becoming an increasingly significant component of the $40 billion translation market.”
“Expanding into new markets has been a very big ‘lean in’ for us,” said Dmitry Zaruta, CEO Easy Ten (500 Startups). ”The platform allows me to communicate with our translators and provide any feedback and support they need to make the translation as quirky and edgy as our original content. In addition, it provides advanced CAT tools that allow us to significantly cut costs on reused translations. They also ensure complete transparency for every project, allowing me to view the progress of our translations, organize collaborative projects and access stats and metrics for each freelancer!”
About SmartCAT
SmartCAT, headquartered in Milpitas, California, is the developer of the namesake translation automation platform (www.SmartCAT.ai), which streamlines cooperation between translators, translation agencies and all companies seeking to translate their content. SmartCAT gives everyone – from freelancers to translation vendors and end-customers – the freedom to use state-of-the-art translation technologies at absolutely no cost and with no limitations. More than 1,500 companies have taken advantage of SmartCAT technologies, including Epicor, Weebly, Coursera, NetCracker, YIT, numerous translation agencies and over 60,000 translators in nearly 100 countries. At its core, SmartCAT is built upon the company’s own patented inventions.
About RedSeed
RedSeed is an investment firm focusing on technology and internet companies. Ilya Shirokov founded RedSeed in 2015. Before this endeavor, Mr. Shirokov founded the first social network in Russia (sold to Yandex), managed DST VC portfolio and served as CEO of Odnoklassniki, one of Europe’s largest internet companies. RedSeed employs its unique operational experience to help portfolio companies to scale their businesses into billion dollar companies.