Japanese translation service Gengo gets $12M from Intel Capital

Gengo, a Tokyo-based startup specializing in people-powered translation, has just taken its second round of institutional funding.

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The deal, which totals $12 million, was led by Intel Capital with participation from previous investor Atomico as well as new investors Iris Capital, Infocomm (Singapore), NTT-IP (Japan), and STCV (Saudi Arabia).

Earlier this year, the startup announced it was partnering with YouTube to improve video captioning for international audiences.

“Recent wins like our integration with YouTube are great steps on our mission to help anyone and everyone communicate freely across languages,” wrote Gengo CEO and co-founder Robert Laing (pictured above) today on the company blog.

“I’m also very excited that we have such an international group of investors including US, Japan, Singapore, and the Middle East. People get it.”

Gengo works by the power of crowdsourcing. Pre-vetted translators can view and select translation jobs, have their work reviewed, and get paid per translation job.

Gengo was founded in 2008 in Tokyo. The company also has offices in San Mateo, Calif. The company has previously taken $6.8 million over four rounds of angel, seed, and Series A funding.

Image credit: Robert Laing