Lengoo Raises USD 20m Series B From Inkef on AI Agency Investment Thesis

▤ Summary

Lengoo CEO, Christopher Kränzler, described raising funds in the current (Covid) environment as “different, but doable thanks to Zoom and Google Hangouts.” He told Slator, “It still feels strange to not be able to meet new investors in person, but we all hope that we can catch up on that soon.” Inkef is a Europe-focused VC firm that has backed over 40 healthcare and technology companies. Hence, for us the experience of investing in technology companies was far more important than the experience in the field of language services.” According to Lansink, Inkef views recent developments in machine learning models “as another form of computation that requires new business models where humans and machines partner up to deliver its potential to the fullest capacity.” Lansink’s investment case is reminiscent of the AI Agency thesis, which Redpoint Ventures Partner, Tomasz Tunguz, discussed at SlatorCon San Francisco in 2019. “To measure the level of correction, we use Edit Distance, which counts the number of insertions, deletions, and substitutions made to the MT output by the translator,” Kränzler said. In the next step, we will now develop a proprietary [MT] framework that brings everything together.” Lengoo increased its ARR sixfold over the past 12 months, according to the press statement, and onboarded “50+ enterprise customers in Europe and the US including National Instruments, Sunrise Communications, Sixt, and the WWF.” The same statement said the company also expanded into the US, the UK, Scandinavia, and Poland and tripled its headcount, which currently stands at 100 across several locations in Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the UK, and Sweden. Kränzler told Slator, “We focus on very large clients that have an inherently high demand for translation and localization, such as global software corporations, e-commerce businesses, manufacturing companies active in exporting, or highly technical companies with a tremendous amount of documentation.” He said near- to mid-term plans include further expanding within Europe as well as building a presence in North America to deliver “a 24/7 offering for all of our globally active clients.”

$ Funding

▦ Linked Companies

Lengoo

$1M to $5M