Robert Laing (Left), Matthew Romaine (Right)
Tokyo-based translation platform Gengo revealed earlier today that it has translated over 200 million words to date. It also boasts a network of 10,822 translators across 114 countries, who are translating at a rate of four words per second, or 240 words per minute.
“Gengo can translate twice as fast as a live translator can speak in a minute, or six times faster than the average person can type in a minute,” says Maitri Jani, PR Manager at Gengo.
Gengo’s website now shows the number of words the startup is translating in real time. CEO and cofounder Robert Laing says that unveiling its benchmarks to the public “marks the first step in Gengo’s overall Open Data Initiative.”
“In the near future, we plan to share a wide range of operational data from our platform. We believe this kind of transparency is lacking in our industry and it will provide our customers with the information they need to find fast and easy human translations at scale,” says Laing.
See: Why this startup is better off in Tokyo than in Silicon Valley
Gengo also announced that it has added three new language pairs in its platform: English to Serbian, English to Slovak and English to Ukrainian. In total, it currently offers translations in 34 languages and 58 language pairs. Some of its clients include Alibaba, YouTube, Rakuten, and TripAdvisor.
Founded in 2008 by Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine, Gengo has raised a total of $19 million in funding to date from Atomico, Intel Capital, Infocomm Investments, and others. Gengo’s competitors include Tokyo-based Conyac and Smartling, which recently raised $25 million in funding.
Geeks at heart, both Laing and Romaine told Tech in Asia in a previous interview that the company is investing heavily in its crowd management system and technology. “A lot of technology that we build, you don’t see it. We have a saying in Gengo — “click, boom, amazing” — what’s amazing to us means the speed and quality of Gengo’s translation,” says Romaine.
Editing by Josh Horwitz
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
