The Slovenia translation platform TAIA, which makes use of deep learning methods, has received a EUR 1.2 million investment from Fil Rouge Capital, a European venture capital fund. The funds are to be used to boost TAIA’s presence on foreign markets and a further development of the deep learning algorithms.
According to TAIA INT, the company behind the platform, this one of the biggest investments in tech companies in Slovenia this year.
“With the investment we will be able to spread faster on western European market, secure a footing in the US and continue developing technological solutions that enable faster and higher quality translation,” Marko Hozjan of TAIA INT, which recorded a EUR 90,000 loss on EUR 296,000 in revenue in 2019, told the STA.
TAIA is marketed as a bridge between translation agencies and free web translators. Clients are able to obtain a quote for a translation job within seconds and then use one click to have the machine translation edited by a human translator.
Hozjan, TAIA INT co-founder and director, said that this interface method speeds up translation and makes it cheaper by up to 50%.
But there have also been critical voices in the translation community arguing that the method is underpinned by underpaid post-editing work by translators and amounts to dumping.
Since its launch in late 2018, TAIA has translated over 15 million words and has been used by over 1,800 users, including major companies like Red Bull, Hervis, 3M, Müller and Petrol.
The company currently has 16 employees and is planning to hire five more in the coming months, primarily developers and digital marketing experts.