AI Startup SmartCAT Triumphs with $2.n Million Funding & Full Autonomy Post-ABBYY Era

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SmartCAT Raises $2.8 Million in Seed Funding and Becomes Fully Independent From ABBYY

August 09, 2016

The translation technology provider will use the funds to continue developing its namesake technology and help businesses grow internationally

SmartCAT, the developer of the namesake cloud translation automation platform, which combines all the latest translation technologies aimed at lowering costs and increasing quality in one solution, with a global marketplace of over 60,000 translation professionals, today announced that it has raised a $2.8 million seed round from venture fund RedSeed.

The SmartCAT platform is designed to optimize translation processes while improving translation quality at the same time. SmartCAT’s global translator marketplace allows customers to invite an unlimited number of translators, editors and managers to their projects, thus dramatically reducing the time needed for their completion.

SmartCAT’s computer assisted translation (CAT) platform prevents the majority of human errors with the help of translation memories, glossaries, intelligent QA checks and innovative AI algorithms, thus increasing the overall quality of the final translation. All users, whether they are freelancers, translation agencies or any other companies in need of translation, have unlimited and free access to SmartCAT translation automation technologies. Customers have reported savings of up to 70% through the use of SmartCAT technologies.

More than 1,500 companies, including Weebly, Epicor, Coursera, Adherium, YIT, Netcracker, GSK, many language services providers and over 60,000 translators from 100 different countries are already using SmartCAT. Every month, users translate around 100 million words on the platform; a figure that continues to grow rapidly.

When it comes to project management, SmartCAT gives customers direct access to over 60,000 freelancers in a wide variety of language pairs and specializations. The platform provides project managers with tools and processes to quickly assemble project-specific teams, track progress and enable effective communication within the team. The latest addition — now in beta testing — is chatbots, which significantly reduce the time needed for executing analysis and reporting tasks.

Closing the circle, SmartCAT covers a translation project’s financial workflow, acting as a hub between end customers and all vendors and freelancers engaged in a project; all at a disruptively low commission of 10%. This commission constitutes the platform’s main source of revenue, along with the sale of on-premise solutions and additional services: expanded technical support, integration services, etc.

SmartCAT was initially developed by multinational AI software company ABBYY . In 2016, SmartCAT started its gradual spin-out process and became a fully independent company. “Our management team has a strong track record in the translation industry, having grown several companies in the US and Europe from zero to hero,” says SmartCAT founder and CEO Ivan Smolnikov. “We started SmartCAT because we believed that cloud technologies are a blessing for many professions, and that translation is no exception. By combining cutting-edge technology and a carefully garnered pool of translators, we’ve unlocked unique value for all market participants. Another unprecedented feature of SmartCAT is that it gives everyone — from freelancers to translation vendors and end- customers — the freedom to use state-of-the-art technology at absolutely no cost and without any limitations. We are proud to have a hand in fueling the business growth of our customers.”

“We first heard about SmartCAT through one of our portfolio companies,” says Ilya Shirokov, Founder and Managing Partner at RedSeed. “They were using SmartCAT to automate their translation processes and thus significantly reduced their operating costs. As we learned more about SmartCAT, we became impressed with the sophistication of their platform and the dedication of their team. SmartCAT is becoming an increasingly significant component of the $40 billion translation market.”

**About SmartCAT

SmartCAT, headquartered in Milpitas, California, is the developer of the namesake translation automation platform (www.SmartCAT.ai ), which streamlines cooperation between translators, translation agencies and all companies seeking to translate their content. SmartCAT gives everyone — from freelancers to translation vendors and end customers — the freedom to use state-of-the-art translation technologies at absolutely no cost and with no limitations. More than 1,500 companies, including Epicor, Weebly, Coursera, NetCracker, YIT, numerous translation agencies and over 60,000 translators in nearly 100 countries have taken advantage of SmartCAT technologies. At its core, SmartCAT is built upon the company’s own patented inventions.

**About RedSeed

RedSeed is an investment firm focusing on technology and Internet companies. Ilya Shirokov founded RedSeed in 2015. Before this endeavor, Shirokov launched the first social network in Russia (now sold to Yandex), managed DST VC portfolio and served as the CEO of Odnoklassniki, one of Europe’s largest Internet companies. RedSeed employs its unique operational experience to help portfolio companies scale their businesses into billion-dollar companies.

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