Smartling Secures US$4 Million in First Funding Round Led by Venrock

New York, NY, March 18, 2010

Smartling, Inc., a provider of real-time, crowdsourced translations for Internet based businesses, announced today that it has secured a US$ 4 million Series A round of investment, led by Venrock. The round also included funding from US Venture Partners, First Round Capital and several angel investors. The company will use the funding to expand its operations and support product development.

Founded in 2009, Smartling offers accurate, quick, and affordable online translations to Internet based businesses. The company combines high-quality translations, crowdsourcing tools, and software services to create localized Websites in a fraction of the time and costs of traditional localization methods. Using crowdsourcing technology, Smartling empowers companies to rapidly reach new customers in their native tongue. “We build companies that shape the future using smart technology,” said David Pakman, Partner at Venrock. “Looking at the company’s leadership, vision, and innovative product, Smartling is poised to transform the way companies do business on the Internet. We believe that Smartling has tremendous market potential.”

Industry surveys have shown that people are more likely to buy products and services in their native language. More than 70 percent of the Internet users do not speak English. These are unexplored market opportunities, especially for small to medium size businesses. Costs have often prevented companies to reach non-English speaking customers. Smartling provides businesses with an easy and affordable way to customize their sites to attract customers in multiple languages.

“We are very pleased to be working with this esteemed group of investors. Their experience in building successful Internet-based companies will accelerate our business growth,” stated Jack Welde, CEO of Smartling. “Our vision is to democratize translations and explore new frontiers by removing language barriers on the Web. Smartling helps businesses to better use their Websites by speaking to customers in their native language in real time.”