Since 2005, 190 translation startups have been founded around the world and found their way into Crunchbase’s database, reflecting the ongoing growth of the language services market in general. This translation startup boom reached its peak during the recent financial crisis and the trend has somewhat flattened over the last three years. But Asia, in particular, appears to be witnessing a lot of activity in the space.
A number of translation startups in Asia have been receiving much fanfare in the past few years — typically companies that merge translation with the mobile and/or digital space. Perhaps unsurprisingly, trends like rapid mobile adoption and e-commerce growth in the developing nations across Asia are helping fan the flames.
When it comes to internet penetration rates for instance, in November 2014, there were over three billion internet users across the globe. In terms of mobile adoption just in North America, 64% of adults owned a smartphone in January 2014, and globally, the number of mobile connections actually surpassed the total world population by the end of the same year. Indeed, some of the most active hotbeds of translation demand can be found in Asia; just look at India, where by 2016, there will 236 million mobile users demanding localized content.
