Konstantin Dranch

Nimdzi Insights

The World’s Largest

Language Services Companiestenvcongres.nl / tenvcongres.be

Methodology

1. This is a live ranking

2. LSPs with USD 10 million or more

in revenue

3. Full company revenue, not just

language services revenue

4. We use data from the latest fiscal year for each company

5. Growth rates in the company’s reporting currency

6. Annual currency conversion rates to US dollars for each day of

trading in 2017

Rank Company Country USD Revenue Main business Notes

1 Transperfect United States 615.0 translation & technology v

2 Lionbridge United States 598.0 translation & technology v

3 Mission Essential Personnel United States 576.5 US government contractor e

4 Global Linguist Solutions United States 570.0 US government contractor e

5 LanguageLine United States 450.0 interpreting v

6 RWS United Kingdom 380.0 translation & localization v

7 SDL United Kingdom 367.0 translation & technology fy, v

8 Hogarth Worldwide United Kingdom 257.5 marketing v

9 Keywords Studios Ireland 248.0 games localization v

10 SDI Media United States 220.0 media localization e

11 Welocalize United States 200.2 translation v

12 Amplexor International Luxembourg 197.3 translation for public sector e

13 STAR Group Switzerland 164.6 translation & technology v

14 CRESTEC Japan 132.7 document translation e

15 CyraCom International United States 130.0 remote interpreting e

16 appen Australia 127.7 language data fy, v

17 BTI Studios Sweden 108.2 media localization v

18 Semantix Sweden 103.0 interpreting & translation v

19 Honyaku Center Japan 94.5 translation e

20 Pactera China 85.2 translation v

21 Donnelley Language Solutions United States 84.7 professional services v

22 Ubiqus France 82.3 translation e

23 United Language Group United States 79.0 translation, M&A e

24 thebigword United Kingdom 77.3 translation for public sector e

25 Datawords France 65.0 translation v

Rank Company Country USD Revenue Main business Notes

26 Logos Group Italy 59.8 translation v

27 Språkservice Sweden 59.1 interpreting e

28 Technicis Group France 50.7 translation v

29 KERN Germany 50.6 translation v

30 Transn China 49.0 translation v

31 CSOFT China 45.0 localization v

32 Morningside Translations United States 42.8 patent translation v

33 Verztec Singapore 41.0 translation, e-learning v

34 Akorbi United States 39.7 translation, interpreting v

35 Vistatec Ireland 39.5 translation, marketing e

36 VSI United Kingdom 39.1 media localization e

37 SunFlare Co Japan 39.0 patent translation e

38 SeproTec Spain 37.3 translation, interpreting v

39 Certified Languages International United States 36.8 interpreting, translation v

40 CTS LanguageLink United States 36.0 translation, interpreting e

41 Telelingua Belgium 33.8 translation v

42 Stratus Video United States 33.5 hospital VRI e

43 TvCN Netherlands 32.7 interpreting v

44 xplanation Belgium 31.8 translation v

45 Livewords Netherlands 31.3 translation, interpreting v

46 LanguageWire Denmark 30.4 translation v

47 Language Services Associates United States 29.0 interpreting e

48 ZOO Digital Group United Kingdom 28.0 media localization fy

49 MultiLing United States 25.0 patent translation e

50 Alpha CRC United Kingdom 24.8 translation, localization v

Rank Company Country USD Revenue Main business Notes

51 Wieners+Wieners / Apostroph Germany 24.7 translation v

52 Sunyu China 24.0 translation v

53 InDemand Interpreting United States 23.1 interpreting e

54 Techtrans United States 23.0 translation e

55 Skrivanek Czech Republic 22.0 translation v

56Capita Translation and Interpreting

United Kingdom 21.9 translation v

57 Abbyy LS/Traktat Russia 21.4 translation v

58 Argos Multilingual Poland 20.3 translation e

59 CBG Konsult & Information Sweden 20.2 translation fy, v

60 ProTranslating United States 20.1 translation e

61 Jonckers Belgium 20.0 translation v

62 Janus Austria 20.0 translation, interpreting v

63 Translated Italy 19.2 translation, platform v

64 HL TRAD France 18.6 legal translation v

65 Rozetta Corp. Japan 18.3 translation, platform v

66 AAC Global Finland 18.0 translation, training v

67 EC Innovations China 17.9 translation v

68 Straker Translations New Zealand 17.5 translation e

69 CQ Fluency United States 17.3 translation v

70 MasterWord United States 17.2 translation e

71 Lan-bridge China 17.0 translation franchise v

72 NLG GmbH Germany 16.8 translation v

73 VITS LanguageLoop Australia 16.7 interpreting fy, v

74 Amesto Translations Sweden 16.3 translation v

75 MultiLingual Solutions United States 16.0 translation, interpreting v

Rank Company Country USD Revenue Main business Notes

76 Transline Germany 15.8 translation e

77 TRSB Canada 15.4 translation v

78 Multicultural NSW Australia 14.6 public sector fy, v

79 Japanese Assistance Network Japan 14.0 phone interpreting v

80 Nordisk Undertext Sweden 13.5 media localization v

81 Globo United States 13.2 translation, platform v

82 Lingo24

United

Kingdom 12.9 translation, platform e

83 itl Germany 12.7 translation v

84 EGO Translating Company Russia 12.5 translation, interpreting v

85 mt-g Germany 12.4 medical translation v

86 LocTeam Spain 12.4 translation, localization e

87 Lingsoft Finland 12.3 translation, technology v

88 ICA Language Services United States 12.1language training, translation e

89 Ingenuiti United States 12.0 translation, e-learning v

90 Hero Tolk Norway 11.7 interpreting v

91 Acclaro United States 11.7 translation, localization v

92 ISI United States 11.5 interpreting v

93 Lylo France 11.4 media localization e

94 Dynamic Language United States 11.3 translation v

95 Diction Switzerland 11.2 translation, localization e

96 One Hour Translation United States 11.1 platform e

97 Snelvertaler Netherlands 11.0 translation v

98 A.D.T. International France 10.8 translation v

99 Language ConnectUnited Kingdom 10.7 translation v

100 HansemEUG Korea 10.6 tech writing, translation v

WARNING! WAARSCHUWING!

• This isn’t everyone

• In 2 months we identified almost 180 players

• There could be many more

REVENUE IS VANITY, PROFIT IS SANITY

5,5

4,4

3,3

1,2

0,6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Mult

iplier

valu

ati

on t

o r

evenue

Revenue 2017

HOW THEY REACHED THE TOP?

Business models of the largest companies

GLOBAL TRANSLATION GENERALISTS

Examples:

• Lionbridge

• TransPerfect

• Welocalize

• STAR Group

• Donnelley Language

Solutions

Transperfect’s 87 offices

BUY & BUILD NEW LEADERS

• Acquired large amount of

business recently

• For every revenue dollar

they acquire, they gain 2-4

in market capitalization

Examples:

• RWS

• Keywords

Runners up:

• ULG

• Semantix Stock price increase for Keywords Studios and RWS Holdings, via Bloomberg.com

PUBLIC SECTOR CONTRACTORS

Examples:

• Mission Essential Personnel

• Global Linguist Solutions

• MVM

• SOS International

• thebigword

Img: U.S. Army in Afghanistan, via Wired.com

MEDIA LOCALIZATION POWERHOUSES

Examples:

• Deluxe Media

• SDI Media

• BTI Studios

• VSI

• IYUNO

• Zoo Digital

Img: Disney’s Frozen in 25 languages

REMOTE INTERPRETING COMPANIES

• Examples: Cyracom, LanguageLine, Stratus Video

Cyracom’s contact center in Tuckson Airport, cyracom.com

MULTILINGUAL MARKETING AGENCIES

• WPP > Hogarth Worldwide

• Publicis Groupe > Translate Plus

• Omnicom > Mother Tongue Writers

Nescafe ad with localization-friendly banners

WHO’S WINNING?

government

contractors

salespeople

technologists

WHO’S MISSING?

TRANSLATION UBER/BOOKING.COM IS MISSING

Company Country Revenue, $ Notes SimilarWeb rank

Translated.net Italy 19.2 v 5,470th

Lingo24 United Kingdom 12.8 E 1,250,909th

One Hour Translations United States 11.1 E 98,485th

Tolingo Germany 9.0 v 210,424th

Gengo Japan ? NA 50,587th

Textmaster France ? NA 185,219th

Proz.com United States comparison 17,645th

Largest platform companies in the industry

“At the end of the day the

money is not in the long

tail, it is in the enterprise.

And to sell to the

enterprise you need

salespeople”.

Lior LibmanPresident

One Hour Translation

WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE PRODUCED THE LARGEST

LANGUAGE COMPANIES?

14

70 10

9 9

7

7

4

4

4

The EU Zone*: 73

WHY?

• India and Brazil have 2-3x larger exports and 4-5x

GDP over Sweden

• Yet, Sweden has grown 7 large LSPs, and only one

in India and Brazil.

WHY?

• India and Brazil have 2-3x larger exports and 4-5x

GDP over Sweden

• Yet, Sweden has grown 7 large LSPs, and only one

in India and Brazil.

• Cost of services

• $0.21 USA

• $0.15 – 0.18 Europe

• $0.02 India

• Access to global brands

EXCEPTIONS

$170 m Czech Republic

$127 mAustralia

TRENDS & CONCLUSIONS #1

1. There are many more large companies in the

world than meets the eye

2. There are multiple paths to the top

3. US market offers the best opportunity

4. Enterprise sales-oriented companies dominate

GROWTH

And impact of mergers and acquisitions

GROWTH RATES

7.4%

CAGR for the next 5 years

12%

leading companies

GROWTH LEADERS WITH ACQUISITIONS

Company Acquired 2015 2017Currenc

y

2y-growth,

%

1 Keywords Studios 18 companies 63.2 220 EUR 248%

2 RWS Group CTi, LUZ and Moravia 95.2 285 GBP 199%

3 Wieners & WienersApostroph Group with Transcript in Switzerland

11 24.7 USD 125%

4 appenMendip Media, Leapforce

83 166 AUD 100%

5 TechnicisTranslation Probst, Arancho Doc

24 45 EUR 87%

6United Language

Group

Lucy Software, Language Select, Merrill Brink International, KJI

45 83 USD 84%

7 HL TRAD CPW, Semantis 9 16.5 EUR 83%

8 xplanation Matrix Communications 17 28.3 EUR 66%

9 Datawords Vanksen 30 50 EUR 66%

10 ABBYY LS Traktat (merger) 828.3 1250 RUR 50%

GROWTH LEADERS – ORGANIC

Company 2015 2017 Currency 2y-growth, %

1 ZOO Digital Group 11.5 28 USD 143%

2 Voice and Script International 16.1 30.4* GBP 88%

3 Lan-bridge 66 115 RMB 74%

4 Akorbi 24.4 39.7 USD 62%

5 NLG 9.9 14.9 EUR 51%

6 Language Connect 5.8 8.3 GBP 43%

7 Certified Languages International 26 36.8 USD 41%

8 Jonckers 13 17.7 EUR 35%

9 Verztec 30.4 41 USD 34%

10 Telelingua 22.6 30 EUR 32%

TRENDS & CONCLUSIONS #2

1. Language services remains a growth market

• Stay, invest, grow

2. Build and buy companies are moving faster than

anyone

• M&A to continue at a fast pace

• Threat of centralized vendor management

3. Mid-sized Netflix vendors are exploding in volume

• Conventional LSPs will try to enter media loc. business

• More talent will be needed in media loc. space

THANK YOU

Konstantin Dranch

kd@nimdzi.com