Lost in translation Found in translation – Unbabel, uma start up portuguesa

«Texts by a machine translated, a trifle stilted may seem.

Portuguese tech entrepreneur and language technology expert Vasco Pedro understands that better than most.

“The promise of having machine translation that really works, hasn’t happened,” he explains. “I don’t think this is possible in the next 15 years.”

Spotting a market need among international companies, this 38-year-old with a life-long “passion for language” set about combining the speed of computerized translation and the subtleties of the human touch.

The result is Unbabel. Set up by Pedro and a bunch of PhD-touting surf buddies in 2013, the Lisbon-based company now has an office in San Francisco and runs a network of 30,000 translators working in 23 languages.

Revenue last year reached $150,000, but business this year has been jumping by over 30 percent a month. The goal of “hitting the million run rate by the end of the year” is now very doable, Pedro said.

After securing $1.5 million in funding from the likes of Google Ventures and Matrix Partners last summer, and building a customer base that includes Microsoft, Pinterest Yummly and HotelTonight, Unbabel has emerged as a star performer in Lisbon’s burgeoning startup scene.»

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Como o jornalismo português não parece ainda muito excitado, esperemos que a Unbabel não venha a ser mais uma vítima da maldição do jornalismo promocional.