“There is a special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.”
French philosopher and poetics-minded Gaston Bachelard wasn’t wrong – and he still isn’t, in my opinion – in putting a quote like this into the universe. Language is quite a beautiful thing. It’s a root of communication. It can be wielded to either wreak global-scale havoc or bring about long-sought unity. Even those deaf or blind can still take a language and unsheathe it, making it their own as they connect deeply with others.
There’s indeed a beauty there, no doubt about it.
And the team at Language I/O (or LIO) thinks so, too.
LIO is a U.S.-based SaaS company that enables those interested to provide multilingual customer support to their own customers in more than 150 languages; be it over email, article or via chat translation, LIO makes it happen. LIO offers a full suite of personalized language-spanning customer support products that are efficient and easy to use, and they save big on time and money when it comes to real, cream-of-the-crop customer experiences that break language barriers for SMEs and multinational corporations alike.
This morning, news about this women-owned language services company broke, and it ties into another service that’s still in a “boom” of its own at the present moment:
Generative AI (or GenAI).
Today, LIO announced its $8 million Series A1 funding round led by Venture Capital firm Joint Effects. Several other investors – the largest of them being the Wyoming Business Council’s WYVC Fund – included Gutbrain Ventures, PBJ Capital and Omega Venture Partners.
The goal of this funding round? To radically expand LIO’s machine-learning (ML) team and platform to integrate GenAI into their services. This will lead to vast improvements in real-time translation quality, as well as the generation of language-specific chatbots powered by LLMs.
“The recent AI boom has driven groundbreaking innovation, and this funding will allow us to harness the trusted power of GenAI to further develop our platform and provide enterprises with superior translation capabilities," said Heather Shoemaker, founder and CEO at Language I/O. "As we continue to use this technology to innovate, LIO is dedicated to upholding data security standards by protecting customers' privacy and limiting data collection and storage. Our ability to raise significant VC funding during tough market conditions is a testament to the strength and value of our technology.”
Shoemaker – just like Bachelard – isn’t wrong. Through the utilization of ML and GenAI, LIO is realistically aiming to pave the way for significant accuracy improvements of real-time translation resources. By removing language barriers in both internal and external business-related conversations, LIO will foster, as today’s press release put it, “seamless global communication, empowering businesses to deliver exceptional experiences that impact diverse markets.”
This also comes at a time when, according to a recent study, the market for translation services is expected to reach a whopping $47.21 billion by 2030, representing a 2.6% CAGR.
Backing LIO, Joint Effects Managing Member Tuomo Vuolteenaho stated, “Between LIO’s track record of innovation and their cutting-edge plans for what’s next, we at Joint Effects are proud to support such a key player in the translation industry. The investment reaffirms our shared commitment to enhancing impactful cross-cultural communications and clearing the way for a world where language is no longer such a barrier, but rather a bridge to infinite and dynamic, transformative opportunities.”
Edited by
Greg Tavarez
