From Cologne, Germany, DeepL, a leading provider of AI-powered language solutions, has announced a $300M investment round, valuing the company at $2B. The round, which was heavily oversubscribed, was led by Index Ventures with participation from ICONIQ Growth, Teachers’ Venture Growth, and other late-stage investors. Existing investors IVP, Atomico, and WiL also contributed to the round. This significant investment underscores the growing demand for DeepL’s innovative language AI platform and the company’s strategic vision to transform global communication.
Significant growth and enterprise adoption
The new investment comes at a pivotal moment for DeepL, which has experienced rapid growth and momentum over the past year. The company now serves over 100,000 businesses, governments, and organisations across more than sixty global markets. High-profile clients such as Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera, and Deutsche Bahn rely on DeepL’s highly accurate and secure AI language platform to facilitate seamless communication, drive international growth, and achieve cost savings.
DeepL has responded to surging demand from global enterprises by accelerating its expansion efforts and making strategic investments in key markets. In January 2024, the company deepened its commitment to the United States by opening its first office in the region. This move reflects the U.S.’s status as DeepL’s third-largest market and the growing need for advanced language solutions. DeepL is also expanding its team in the U.S. to support increasing demand.
Meet DeepL
DeepL is committed to eliminating language barriers for businesses globally. Its Language AI platform, which offers human-like translation and enhanced writing capabilities, is trusted by over 100,000 businesses, governments, and organisations, as well asMs of individuals across sixty-three countries. DeepL’s AI solutions, meticulously designed with enterprise security in mind, assist companies in transforming their business communications, entering new markets, and boosting productivity. Established in 2017 by CEO Jarek Kutylowski, DeepL has expanded to a dedicated team of over nine hundred employees and is backed by esteemed investors including Benchmark, IVP, and Index Ventures.
Expanded product offerings
In addition to its geographic expansion, DeepL has significantly expanded its product offerings tailored for businesses. In April 2024, the company introduced DeepL Write Pro, a writing assistant specifically designed for business writing and powered by DeepL’s proprietary large language model (LLM) technology. The company has also broadened the range of languages supported by its platform, with recent additions such as Arabic, Korean, and Norwegian, bringing the total number of supported languages to thirty-two.
Danny Rimer from Index Ventures, who led the investment, praised DeepL’s approach to product development and customer satisfaction, “DeepL’s runaway success is a bit of an ‘open secret’ in the business community. The company is exceptionally thoughtful about creating cutting-edge AI products that deliver real and immediate value to their customers. Jarek and the rest of the DeepL team are equally research and commercially minded – both of which are key to the company’s success.”
Transforming the language industry
The investment in DeepL is a testament to the company’s pivotal role in the evolving AI landscape. A recent IBM study found that 42% of global enterprises are already actively deploying AI, with another 40% exploring its potential. Within this rapidly evolving landscape, DeepL is at the forefront of applying AI to transform the $67.9B language industry, which is projected to grow to $95.3B by 2028.
Since its inception, DeepL has become the language AI provider of choice for businesses across various industries including manufacturing, legal, retail, healthcare, technology, and professional services. The company’s specialised AI models offer precise translations and writing solutions, reducing the risk of errors and misinformation. In business translation and writing, accuracy is paramount, making DeepL’s specialised AI models the preferred solution for language challenges.
A 2024 Forrester study revealed that using DeepL’s platform delivered a 345% return on investment (ROI) for global companies, reducing translation time by 90% and decreasing workload by 50%. These efficiencies underscore the power of DeepL’s platform for businesses looking to grow their revenue and enter new markets faster and at scale.
Future plans and strategic vision
Looking ahead, DeepL plans to continue investing in research and product innovation to enhance its suite of leading AI communication tools for businesses. The company is also focusing on global market expansion and talent recruitment across multiple areas, including AI research, product development, engineering, and go-to-market strategies.
Jarek Kutylowski, emphasised the company’s long-term vision, “We’re approaching an inflection point in the AI boom where businesses who are racing to adopt the technology begin to discern between hype versus solutions that are secure and actually solve real problems in their business. This new investment comes during what is on track to be DeepL’s most transformative year yet and is a testament to the crucial role that our Language AI platform has in solving the complex linguistic challenges global companies face today. We’re highly focused on continued growth and innovation to expand our solutions and ensure they remain industry-leading in terms of quality, precision, and security. “This will bring us closer to a future where every company, regardless of location, can operate seamlessly on a global scale with our AI”.
