Gengo

What Gengo does

Gengo is a crowdsourced human translation platform founded in 2009 in Tokyo by Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine, connecting a global network of 21,000+ certified translators across 114+ countries with businesses needing professional translation across 70+ language pairs. Core products include Professional Translation (offered in Standard and Business per-word tiers), Website Localization, App Localization, a suite of Content Services (transcription, proofreading, summarization, copywriting, sentiment analysis, MT quality evaluation), and platform-specific Translation Solutions integrated with Magento, SendGrid, WordPress, YouTube, and Zendesk. A public REST API with client libraries in Python, PHP, Ruby, and Java enables high-volume automated translation workflows, and pre-built platform integrations extend distribution into customer content stacks.

The business operates an API-first, usage-based revenue model with transparent per-word pricing ($0.05-$0.10 per word depending on tier and channel), no minimums, and volume discounts for API customers. Go-to-market combines self-serve web ordering for SMB and on-demand needs, API integration for enterprise high-volume automation, and dedicated sales teams in Tokyo, San Mateo, London, and Manila for custom enterprise solutions. Gengo serves 65,000+ active customers across eight verticals — Ecommerce, Travel/Hospitality, Media/Publishing, Mobile/Video Games, Marketing/SEO, Technology/Software, Business/Finance, and Legal — with named enterprise customers including YouTube, Salesforce, Atlassian, BuzzFeed, Mozilla, Rakuten, and Eventbrite.

Since January 2019, Gengo has operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lionbridge Technologies following its acquisition; in November 2020, TELUS International acquired Lionbridge.ai, splitting Gengo's AI-specific technologies (folded into the TELUS AI platform) from translation-specific technologies (retained within Lionbridge). Gengo K.K. remains the Japanese entity while Lionbridge Technologies, LLC provides Gengo services from the US.

Name

Gengo

Legal name

Gengo K.K.

Website

https://gengo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Gengo is a crowdsourced human translation platform with 21,000+ certified translators delivering per-word translation across 70+ language pairs via API, self-serve, and enterprise channels. It serves 65,000+ customers across ecommerce, media, software, and travel verticals, operating as a subsidiary of Lionbridge Technologies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Translation Services

NAICS

Translation and Interpretation Services (541930), Translation and Interpretation Services (54193)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Translation & Transcreation Services (Script/Dialogue Adaptation) (MPAHAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Language Learning eLearning Modules (ESL/EFL) (EDAGAEAI), Content Localization, Translation & Transcreation (BPAFAIAH)

Keywords

• Human translation services
• Translation API
• Website localization
• App localization
• Multilingual content services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Translation Services: Per-word translation services with tiered pricing based on quality levels (Standard, Business, Additional Services). Customers pay per word translated with no add-ons or minimum spend. Volume discounts available for API users.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Gengo is a two-sided crowdsourced human translation marketplace connecting a network of 21,000+ certified translators with businesses needing professional translation across 70+ language pairs. Customers access services via a self-serve web order form, an integrated REST API for automated high-volume workflows, and direct enterprise sales for tailored solutions. The platform supports per-word usage-based pricing with Standard and Business quality tiers, plus additional services such as subtitling, video transcription, post-edited machine translation, and website/app localization.

Product overview

Gengo is a human translation platform combining a web-based ordering interface, API access, and managed services to connect customers with professional translators across 70+ language pairs. The core product is Professional Translation offered in Standard and Business tiers, supplemented by Website Localization and App Localization services. Content Services provides supplementary capabilities (Transcription, Proofreading, Summarization, Categorization, Copywriting, Content Generation, Quality Assessment, Machine Translation Evaluation, Sentiment Analysis). Translation Solutions offers platform-specific integrations (Magento, SendGrid, WordPress, YouTube, Zendesk). The Gengo API enables programmatic access for developers and high-volume customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lionbridge AI: Following the acquisition by Lionbridge in January 2019, Gengo's services were merged with Lionbridge's AI training data services under the Lionbridge AI brand.
• Gengo.ai

Products and services

• Professional Translation Primary translation service offering human-powered translation through Gengo's network of 21,000+ certified translators. Delivered in Standard (everyday, casual voice content) and Business (professional, topic-specific content) tiers with transparent per-word pricing, available via self-serve web ordering, API, or custom enterprise services.
• Website Localization Service enabling companies to translate and adapt web content for international markets while maintaining brand consistency, including static website copy, marketing collateral, and app strings.
• App Localization Mobile and software application localization service translating app strings and interface content for global app distribution.
• Content Services Suite of content-related services including Transcription, Proofreading, Content Summarization, Content Categorization, Copywriting, Content Generation, Quality Assessment, Machine Translation Quality Evaluation, and Sentiment Analysis.
• Gengo API Public REST API enabling developers to integrate human translation capabilities into applications. Supports high-volume translation orders and automated workflows with a sandbox testing environment and client libraries for Python, PHP, Ruby, and Java. Volume pricing with discounts versus website rates.

Quantifiable outcome

• Orders start within 20 minutes on average
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TELUS InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2020TELUS International acquired Lionbridge.ai (including Gengo's AI-specific technologies) in November 2020. Translation-specific technologies continue integration with Lionbridge while AI-specific technologies became the Telus AI platform.
• LionbridgecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 January 2019Lionbridge acquired Gengo and Gengo.ai in January 2019, forming Lionbridge AI to provide end-to-end AI data training services. The acquisition combined Lionbridge's enterprise AI training data services with Gengo's crowdsourcing platform.
• SalesupplyminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2017E-commerce localization expert collaborated with Gengo on a Guide to Cross-Border Localization for online businesses going global.
• 3PlayMediaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2014Video management company partners with Gengo for captioning and translation services, integrating Gengo's human translation into their video accessibility platform.
• YouTube (Google)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 February 2013YouTube partnered with Gengo to provide professional caption translation in 36 languages through YouTube's Video Manager. Channel owners can request translations directly from the YouTube interface.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Smartling: Smartling is a translation management platform and professional translation services provider serving enterprise customers. Like Gengo, it combines cloud-based translation technology with a network of professional translators, and competes head-to-head for software, e-commerce, and media localization contracts.
• Lionbridge: Lionbridge is Gengo's parent company following the January 2019 acquisition and is one of the largest global language services providers. It competes in the same translation services market as Gengo and offers enterprise translation, localization, and AI data services at significantly larger scale.

Emerging players

• Lilt: Lilt is an AI-powered translation platform combining adaptive machine translation with human linguists, focused on enterprise localization workflows. It is a direct competitor to Gengo's API-driven, technology-augmented human translation offering but with stronger emphasis on MT in the loop.
• Unbabel: Unbabel provides AI-augmented translation services combining neural machine translation with a community of post-editors. It targets similar enterprise customer support and content use cases as Gengo, with a stronger machine-translation-first positioning.
• memoQ: memoQ is a translation management system providing CAT tools and TMS capabilities used by translators and localization teams. It operates in the same localization technology stack as Gengo's platform layer but focuses on professional translator tooling rather than end-to-end services.
• Pangeanic: Pangeanic is a language services and AI translation company offering both professional human translation and machine translation post-editing. It competes with Gengo for mid-market translation contracts and is a smaller but technically credible alternative.

Broad incumbents

• Welocalize: Welocalize is a global translation and localization services company combining platform technology with a crowdsourced and in-house translator network. It competes with Gengo for enterprise content translation and operates at a similar scale across multiple verticals.
• RWS Group: RWS Group is a UK-listed language services and intellectual property services company, owning SDL (translation memory tools like Trados) and providing enterprise translation services. It competes with Gengo on both the translation technology and professional services layer.
• TransPerfect: TransPerfect is the world's largest privately held language services provider, offering translation, interpretation, and localization across virtually every industry. It competes with Gengo on enterprise translation contracts and represents a much larger, broader incumbent in the same market.
• LanguageLine Solutions: LanguageLine Solutions is a major interpretation and translation services provider, particularly dominant in phone and video interpretation for healthcare, government, and enterprise. It overlaps with Gengo in document translation but is much stronger in interpretation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/gengo
• Facebookfacebook.com/mygengo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gengo
• Xx.com/gengoit

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gengo