"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. The young company has now completed a new round of financing and is regarded as the first "unicorn" from Cologne.
The online translation service DeepL from Cologne 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 the first "unicorn" from the cathedral city.
The financiers of the financing round include the US investors IVP and Bessemer and the European venture capitalist Atomico, as "Business Insider" initially reported. It was initially unclear how many shares the companies would take over. DeepL did not respond to a request as of Thursday afternoon. A »unicorn« is a term used to describe start-ups with a market valuation of more than one billion US dollars.
DeepL started in Cologne in 2017 and now employs around 400 people. The website deepl.com with the translation service is one of the hundred most visited 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.
Even in independent tests, DeepL overshadowed 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 for free - unlimited and other features require a subscription.