Insider Brief
- DeepL secured $300 million in investment at a $2 billion valuation, led by Index Ventures, to expand its AI-driven language platform and enhance global communication for businesses.
- The funding will support DeepL’s growth, including the launch of new products like DeepL Write Pro, expansion of language support, and establishment of a U.S. office.
- DeepL’s AI platform, trusted by over 100,000 organizations, offers precise translations and writing assistance, driving significant cost savings and efficiencies for global enterprises.
PRESS RELEASE — COLOGNE, GERMANY/May 22, 2024 — DeepL, a leading Language AI company, today announced $300 million of investment at a $2 billion valuation. Led by Index Ventures, the heavily oversubscribed round attracted strong support from new investors, who will bring their extensive expertise, connections, and resources to support DeepL’s growth and long-term vision to transform the way companies communicate around the world. Additional late-stage investors, including ICONIQ Growth, Teachers’ Venture Growth, and others, also participated, along with existing investors IVP, Atomico, and WiL.
“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,” said Jarek Kutylowski, founder and CEO of DeepL. “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.”
The new investment comes during a period of significant growth and momentum for DeepL, which has amassed a customer network of 100,000+ businesses, governments, and other organizations worldwide. This network includes Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera, and Deutsche Bahn, who rely on its highly accurate and secure enterprise Language AI platform to deliver seamless communication, driving international growth and cost savings. In response to surging demand from global enterprises, DeepL has accelerated its expansion efforts and strategic investments into key markets over the past year. In January 2024, DeepL deepened its commitment to the U.S. — now its third largest market — by opening its first office in the region. The company continues to expand its team in the U.S. to support growing demand.
Within the last 12 months, DeepL has also substantially broadened its product offerings tailored for businesses. In April 2024, the company launched DeepL Write Pro, a writing assistant specifically tailored for business writing, powered by its own proprietary LLM technology. The company also continues to expand the range of languages supported by its platform with the recent additions of Arabic, as well as Korean and Norwegian, bringing its total number of languages to 32.
“DeepL’s runaway success is a bit of an ‘open secret’ in the business community,” said Danny Rimer, who led the investment from Index Ventures. “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.” Index Ventures is recognized for its investments in highly successful SaaS businesses like Figma, Slack, Wiz, and ScaleAI.
Demand for AI solutions among global enterprises is on the rise. A recent IBM study found that 42% are already actively deploying AI and 40% are exploring its potential. Within this rapidly evolving landscape, DeepL is leading the way in applying AI to transform the $67.9 billion language industry, which is projected to grow to $95.3 billion by 2028.
Since its inception in 2017, DeepL has become the Language AI provider of choice for businesses across multiple industries including manufacturing, legal, retail, healthcare, technology, and professional services. The company’s specialized Language AI platform has become a critical investment for global businesses today, addressing a variety of communication challenges ranging from internal communications to customer support and international market expansion. Unlike general-purpose AI systems, DeepL’s cutting-edge translation and writing solutions rely on specialized AI models specifically tuned for language, resulting in more precise translations for a variety of use cases and a reduced risk of hallucinations and misinformation. In business translation and writing, accuracy is paramount, making specialized AI models the most reliable and preferred solution for language challenges.
DeepL’s Language AI platform is also proven to drive significant cost savings and efficiencies. A 2024 Forrester study revealed that the use of DeepL delivered 345% ROI for global companies, reducing translation time by 90% and driving a 50% in workload reduction, underscoring, in our opinion, the power of its platform for businesses looking to grow their revenue and enter new markets faster and at scale.
“At Zendesk we see first hand the power of infusing AI tools into customer experience, and DeepL’s industry-leading translation is a prime example,” said Adrian McDermott, CTO, Zendesk. “The ability to have accurate AI translation allows companies from startups to large enterprises the ability to scale globally, reaching prospects and existing customers in new ways. Zendesk’s open and flexible platform allows for seamless partnerships, and the tangible results we’ve seen so far from joint customers have us looking forward to continued work with DeepL.”
Looking ahead, DeepL will continue to invest in research and product innovation to strengthen its suite of leading AI communication tools for businesses. The company is also doubling down on global market expansion and talent recruitment across multiple areas including AI research, product, engineering, and GTM.
About DeepL
DeepL is on a mission to break down language barriers for businesses everywhere. Over 100,000 businesses, governments, and other organizations and millions of individuals in 63 global markets trust DeepL’s Language AI platform for human-like translation and better writing. Designed with enterprise security in mind, companies around the world leverage DeepL’s AI solutions that are specifically tuned for language to transform business communications, expand markets, and improve productivity. Founded in 2017 by CEO Jaroslaw (Jarek) Kutylowski, DeepL today has over 900 passionate employees and is supported by world-renowned investors including Benchmark, IVP, and Index Ventures.
