Interactio, a remote interpretation platform whose clients include giants such as the United Nations, the European Commission and Parliament, including companies such as BMW, JPMorgan and Microsoft, has grown 12 xs between 2019 and 2020, increasing its equipment by 12 xs to 30 million in series, closed due to increased demand for online meeting platforms during the coronavirus epidemic. The series is funded by notable angels such as Eight Rhodes Ventures and Silicon Valley-based Storm Ventures, Practica Capital, Notion Capital, as well as Skype co-founders Jaan Tallinn and Young Sohn, Samsung’s chief strategy officer.
Vilnius provides digital tools to connect meetings with attested interpreters who explain real-time interpretations of language divisions between early partnerships based in Lithuania. It also provides a video conferencing platform that its customers can use to conduct remote meetings but will happily integrate with third-party software such as Zoom, Webex, etc. (Last year it was reported that its digital tools were used alongside 43 different video streaming platforms). By watching and listening to the flow of the interview, the interpreters of the interactive can be in the meeting where the meeting is taking place or from a completely remote location of the real-time interpretation. (Or, in fact, it can support a combination of remote and site interpretation if a client so desires).
It can provide all interpreters for a meeting – and it touts a rigorous testing process to operate a certified interpreter on its platform – or else it will train a client’s interpreter to use its tools to ensure things run smoothly during the day. Currently, Interactio says it works with 1,000+ freelance interpreters, as well as talking about “strong relationships with interpretation agencies” – claiming that it can quadruple the pool of easily available claimants to meet growing demand. It interprets its clients in any language – and in an unlimited number of languages per event. And last year it said it held 18,000+ meetings with 390,000 listeners spread across more than 70 countries.
Now, equipped with a huge series, Interactive is also gearing up for a future filled with a growing number of multilingual online meetings – the coronavirus is fueling friction for growing business travel. “When we started, our biggest competition was the simultaneous interpretation hardware for site interpretation. At the time, we were on a mission to completely replace it with our software where attendees needed additional hardware in addition to their phones and headphones. However, for organizations that have become our primary focus, hybrid meetings are, so we work together on hybrid events and start partnering with simultaneous interpretation hardware manufacturers and integrators, where participants use on-site hardware and online participants use us. The spokesman told us.
