"Unicorn" status
Cologne-based translation start-up DeepL is worth a billion dollars
A German platform has been competing with Google Translate for some time. Now the young company has closed a new round of financing and is considered the first "unicorn" from Cologne.
The Cologne-based online translation service DeepL is valued at one billion dollars (960 million euros) after a new round of financing. This was reported on Thursday by the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", citing information from the company environment. DeepL is thus considered the first "unicorn" from the cathedral city.
The backers of the financing round include U.S. investors IVP and Bessemer, as well as the European venture capitalist Atomico, as "Business Insider" had initially reported. It initially remained unclear how many shares the firms would take. DeepL did not respond to an inquiry by Thursday afternoon. A "unicorn" is the term used to describe startups with a market valuation of more than one billion US dollars.
DeepL launched in Cologne in 2017 and now employs around 400 people. The website deepl.com with its translation service is one of the hundred most frequently accessed sites worldwide. DeepL says it has achieved exceptional machine translation quality with improvements in neural network mathematics and methodology, and is up to six times more accurate than other providers.
In independent tests, DeepL also outperformed established providers such as Google Translate. However, Google supports 133 languages, DeepL only 29. DeepL translates up to 5,000 characters and up to three documents per month free of charge - a subscription is required for unlimited and additional features.