Venture Capital News: Smartling Secures $24M in Series C
2013-10-09
NEW YORK, NY, Cloud-based enterprise translation software company, announced today a $24 million Series C funding round.
Smartling (www.smartling.com), the cloud-based enterprise translation software company, announced today a $24 million Series C funding round, led by new investor Tenaya Capital, a leading venture capital firm that invests in early growth venture-backed technology companies. Harmony Partners also joins as a new investor. In addition, all prior investors including Venrock, U.S. Venture Partners, IDG Ventures, First Round Capital, and Felicis Ventures participated in this round. Smartling will use the funding to accelerate growth, invest in the development and delivery of new products and services, and expand global operations.
'The enormous language services sector is ripe for disruption, as enterprises recognize that technology is essential to providing their global customers with content in their native languages,' said Ben Boyer, Managing Director, Tenaya Capital, who joins Smartling's Board of Directors. 'Smartling's software is a catalyst for this change, and we're excited to be part of this transformation.'
Smartling has more than tripled revenues in the last 12 months, adding over 120 new enterprise customers in the same period. Employee count doubled in 2013, and the company plans to hire nearly one hundred new employees in the next year.
Companies across diverse industries use Smartling's translation software to power their translation and localization. Smartling enjoys high levels of client satisfaction and excellent retention from clients like Shutterstock, Pinterest, Vimeo, Dropbox, Spotify, GoPro, TED, SurveyMonkey, Uber, Hightail (formerly YouSendit), Optimizely, Glassdoor, Limelight Networks and Twilio.
'Smartling is the only significant SaaS company in a space traditionally dominated by service agencies and decades-old, on-prem software,' said Jack Welde, Founder and CEO, Smartling. 'Our SaaS financial metrics are exemplary, consistent with fastest growing software-as-a-service companies. We are delighted to be answering the need for rapid translation and localization of digital content with a superior technology solution for both large enterprises and the fastest moving high tech companies.'
Smartling's localization software solution offers real-time visibility and control over all aspects of a translation project in one easy-to-use, collaborative, cloud-based platform. The software streamlines the process from start to finish, allowing clients to select the best translation method and quality for their business and project, whether it be the use of their favorite translation agency, freelance professional translators, volunteers communities, internal teams, computer-generated translation, or any combination.
'Smartling is already transforming the largely manual language services industry,' said Mark Lotke, General Partner at Harmony Partners. 'No longer will companies be beholden to an approach that is rife with inefficiency, provider lock-in and a significant lack of innovation. Smartling's cloud-based platform, transparent workflows, and contextual editing capabilities make its software a disruptive force in the language services industry.'
Smartling provides translation and localization software that is fast, accurate, and affordable. By putting the entire translation process in the cloud, Smartling dramatically improves accuracy and speed, while reducing overall costs. The platform is enterprise-ready with HIPAA, PCI Level 1, and SOC 2 certifications, and meets the rigorous requirements of the largest consumer web and mobile companies, as well as the Global 2000.
Newly appointed board member Ben Boyer joins Steven Krausz, General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners; Alexander Rosen, Managing Director, IDG Ventures; David Pakman, Partner, Venrock; and Jack Welde, CEO, Smartling, on the company's Board of Directors.
About Smartling
Smartling, Inc. simplifies and accelerates translation and localization for companies reaching a global market. With the first cloud-based enterprise platform for translation management, Smartling helps companies quickly translate and deploy their websites and dynamic web applications, mobile applications, and business documents across the entire corporate digital infrastructure. Named 'Most Innovative Startup' at Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal's 2011 FASTech 50, Smartling is shaking up the outdated translation and localization industry with the first platform designed to manage the entire translation, localization and delivery process via a scalable SaaS model. Brands who rely on Smartling to launch and manage localized multilingual websites and applications include Spotify, SurveyMonkey, Foursquare, Path, Vimeo, Kodak, HotelTonight, Uber, GoPro, and more. The Smartling platform currently serves billions of page views per month in 100 languages across the globe.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York City, Smartling is privately held and backed by leading venture capital firms, including First Round Capital, IDG Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock and several prominent angel investors
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