TheSouth Korea is experiencing a steady growth in translation platforms due to the increasing demand for bilingual professionals. The main impetus for this is the country’s growing multicultural population and entry into the global economy. Additionally, with an increased focus on foreign investment, South Korea has adopted a Translation as a Service (TaaS) policy that enables companies to access and localize language resources rapidly. This has led to a rise in translation platforms in Korea and startups focusing on translation services. In addition, there has also been a rise in cloud-based services such as Google Translate that can harness vast amounts of data from various sources and deliver highly customized translations with accuracy and efficiency. Moreover, South Korea’s tech giants are beginning to use machine-learning algorithms for their large-scale translation initiatives, another major factor in the nation’s rising interest in applying translation technologies.

Best Translation Platforms in Korea

Iyuno SDI

The need for translated subtitles in multiple languages is growing. It has been growing ever since the rise of OTT services worldwide. Iyuno offers translated subtitles and other media localization services for streaming content. They aim to partner with global platform operators. They already have 70 offices in over 35 countries. The company brought in over $500 in revenue in 2022. Last year they raised over $120 million, bringing their total funding to just over $250 million. In addition, the startup is estimated to be valued at $1 billion, making it a potential Korean unicorn.

Iyuno SDI offers subtitles in over 100 languages and has over 30,000 freelancers. Some of their biggest clients include Disney, Netflix, Applet TV, and Amazon Studios. Therefore, they are considered the world’s biggest provider of translated subtitles. Their focus for 2023 is to continue to work on their neural machine translation engines, trained on data from specific entertainment genres. Their AI-powered translation is something to watch moving forward.

BabelTop

Those looking for Korean SaaS startups in the translation space should check out BabelTop, a professional translation platform with a 98% customer rating. BabelTop quickly matches users with translators, the best language experts specializing in business. BabelTop offers real-time quotes (time and price) after you upload what you want to be translated. Therefore, users can check the translation progress using the BabelTop platform dashboard, with AI taking over the translation industry. BabelTop focuses on human translations. Furthermore, translators on BabelTop offer translators to build their specialized portfolios in a particular industry.

“My goal is to provide affordable and high-quality translation for everyone. I hope Babeltop could bring socio-economic value and activate global business,” said CEO of BabelTop, Cho Eun-byul.

XL8 Inc.

XL8 is an AI-powered translation startup based in Silicon Valley, but its R&D department resides in Yangjae. It offers 66 language pairs focused on target media and entertainment localization. Therefore, they specialize in content translations and dubbing. They collaborate with Iyuno SDI (mentioned above) to localize video content on streaming platforms. XL8 uses machine learning and humans to bring the most natural-sounding translations possible. To date, the startup has translated over 700,000 hours of video content. Their newest product is called MediaCAT. It is an advanced version of their service but with an editing feature. Users upload a video, and MediaCAT will automatically extract lines and translate it into the language of their choice.