cisco acquires translation startup ezdubs

Cisco Acquires Real-Time Translation Startup EzDubs

Technology leader Cisco has completed the acquisition of EzDubs, a consumer startup specializing in real-time translation services and backed by Y Combinator. The announcement of the deal occurred over the weekend, though the financial terms were not publicly revealed.

EzDubs Background and Funding

Founded in 2023 by Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, Amrutavarsh Kinagi, and Kareem Nassar, EzDubs benefits from the prior experience of Nassar, who previously contributed to Cisco’s Speech AI division. The startup successfully secured $4.2 million in seed funding.

• This funding round was spearheaded by Venture Highway, established by Neeraj Arora, formerly WhatsApp’s chief business officer.
• Additional investors included Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, and Michele Catasta, President of Replit.
• Qasar Younis, CEO of Applied Intuition, and Ben Firshman, CEO of Replicate, also participated in the investment.

Notably, Replicate was recently acquired by Cloudflare, as announced on Monday.

Integration with Cisco Collaboration

Cisco intends to integrate EzDubs’ technology directly into its Cisco Collaboration platform. This platform encompasses both hardware and software solutions.

The integration will enable features such as live translation within products like Webex, covering both video calling and messaging functionalities. Furthermore, Cisco suggests the possibility of extending access to this voice-preserving translation technology to its partners and developer community.

Cisco’s Vision for AI-Powered Collaboration

Snorre Kjesbu, SVP of Collaboration at Cisco, stated, “The EzDubs team will join Cisco Collaboration, working side-by-side with our product, engineering, and go-to-market teams. Together, we will chart a new course for the industry, one where AI doesn’t just support collaboration, but truly empowers it.”

The company has not yet confirmed whether all EzDubs team members will be joining Cisco. A request for clarification has been submitted.

EzDubs Consumer App Sunset

EzDubs will be discontinuing its consumer applications, which offered call translations across more than 30 languages, with a final shutdown date of December 15.

The startup expressed gratitude to its users, stating, “From launching the world’s first video dubbing tool that garnered millions of views on X (fka Twitter) to enabling real-time, voice and emotion preserving phone call translation across 30+ languages, this journey has been extraordinary.”

Recent Trends in Translation Acquisitions

The acquisition of EzDubs follows a trend of activity in the translation sector. Recent deals include:

• Palabra AI’s acquisition of Talo this month.
• TransPerfect’s acquisition of Unbabel in July.

Market Viability and Enterprise Focus

EzDubs’ acquisition prompts consideration of the challenges in building a consumer-focused translation service, particularly when compared to the greater financial opportunities within the enterprise communication market. The global translation services market is currently estimated to be worth around $40 billion.

The demand and investment potential are demonstrably higher in serving business communication needs.