Smartling Announces $160M Investment for Translation and Localisation Tech

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Smartling, the cloud translation technology platform company, announced a $160 million growth investment from Battery Ventures, a global, technology-focused investment firm.

According to McKinsey & Company, over 361 million people around the world participate in cross-border e-commerce. A study by the European banking group Standard Chartered found that nearly half of US businesses today say their best growth opportunity is outside the US, and that has increased nearly 30 per cent in just a year. And, according to an industry analyst CSA Research, 76 per cent of buyers agree or strongly agree that when faced with the choice of two similar products, they prefer to purchase the one with product information in their own language.

“Two truisms have emerged about today’s enterprises: all business is global, and content drives global business,” said Jack Welde, co-founder and CEO of Smartling. “The third leg of that stool is translation since nearly all customers want to buy in their own language. This is a tremendous opportunity and we are excited to realise it together with Battery.”

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Smartling works with thousands of expert, professional translators to ensure that translated content is not only accurate but localised for the relevant market. Localisation of content ensures that when it is translated, its intended meaning and connotation remains the same across languages, avoiding unintended offence and protecting the company and its audience from misunderstandings.

“Enterprises generally succeed on the strength of technology, supply chains, people, and workflows. As content has become essential to go-to-market strategies, content distribution has in some sense become its own supply chain and workflow,” said Morad Elhafed, general partner at Battery Ventures. “And, as that content supply chain extends globally, translation at scale has become the critical last mile for global enterprise growth”.

“This is a significant market opportunity and Smartling is primed to capitalise on it. We’ve been tracking Jack’s leadership and the company’s trajectory for a while now and are very impressed with its progress and potential,” continued Mr Elhafed, who is joining the Smartling Board of Directors. “We’re excited to bring our cloud expertise to help Smartling move into the next phase of its growth journey.”