On May 11, 2021
Big Language Solutions (BIG) has acquired Language Link, the latest in a series of deals that sees BIG executing on its buy-and-build strategy. It follows the acquisition of US healthcare specialist ISI in September 2020 and language service provider Protranslating in June 2019.
Jeff Brink, CEO of BIG, said the deal closed on April 30, 2021. He told Slator, “We expect combined revenues of BIG Language companies to exceed USD 75m for 2021. There is a chance we can finish the year north of USD 90m with additional acquisitions.”
Language Link, formerly known as Corporate Translation Services or CTS, was wholly owned by CEO Jeff Barger, who founded the language service provider (LSP) in 1991.
On May 4, 2021
Sweden has started the search for one vendor to deliver interpretation services to the entire Stockholm Region. Contract price is estimated at EUR 59m (SEK 600m) for four years and will cover on-site, remote, and on-demand interpretation; the latter includes interpreting services for the Swedish healthcare helpline (1177). Deadline for submission of tenders is May 21, 2021, before midnight.
Assuming a supplier is chosen by December 1, 2021, the contract will run from June 1, 2022 to November 30, 2024 (i.e., the contract will only kick in six months after it is signed) and may be subject to renewal. Maximum duration of the contract is four years.
On April 19, 2021
Introducing LinQ Media Group, a new venture in media localization led by old hands at subtitling and dubbing. LinQ is the media localization startup founded by former BTI Studio Execs Björn Lifvergren, Lennart Löf, and Henrik Wikren.
LinQ is based in Stockholm, Sweden and launched officially in March 2021. The company is already operational in the Nordics and recently raised EUR 1m in seed money with the participation of the founders.
Co-founder and Executive Chairman, Björn Lifvergren, told Slator that they will use the funds to hire their first employees and take “the first steps towards creating a broader international presence.”
On April 15, 2021
Over 50 participants joined the Association of Language Companies (ALC) for its annual advocacy event, ALC on the Hill, to lobby US politicians on issues relevant to the language industry. The campaign, which wrapped up on March 19, 2021, consisted of virtual meetings with 70 offices from 17 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Among the most important topics covered, worker classification flexibility; that is, allowing translators and interpreters (T&Is) to work for clients and language service providers (LSPs) without necessarily being employees.
On March 6, 2021, House Democrats passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, an amendment to existing legislation intended to make union organizing and collective bargaining easier for employees.
On April 14, 2021
If your company has AI as a cornerstone, investors will probably love you. Among such companies in recent funding news are Israel-based language service provider (LSP) BLEND, platform and API integration on a SaaS model; Berlin-based LSP Lengoo, an AI agency; and New York-based tech startup OthersideAI, an email productivity tool built on the world’s largest language model, GPT-3.
Now comes a Korean startup that has homed in on machine translation (MT) for the ever-growing legal & IP space (e.g., patent filings actually reached record numbers during Covid).
Bering Lab secured funding in a round led by an accelerator of Korean search giant Naver and participated in by Seoul National University’s Seoul Techno Holdings, according to an April 6, 2021 Tech in Asia article.