According to Ike Sagie, chief executive officer of Israeli Group at Lexifone, the company is set to triple the annual sales in first few years of operation, topping its own target.
Lexifone provides automated voice translation service. The service requires neither Internet connection nor software installation. An access number is provided to the callers, and the callers say a sentence, translated and transmitted back to them in the language that they choose.
There is also an option for the clients to ensure and check whether the right words are translated.
Lexifone had launched this service only just a few weeks ago. It can transmit and translate calls in 15 languages and dialects to over 100 countries. The company had expected sales of $1 million in its first year, but now with the company breaking even in its first year, Ike Sagie expects sales to be much higher.
Ike Sagie, cofounder and the chief executive officer, told Reuters that their original plan was for an annual growth of 200 percent. However, from the way they see the market welcoming their technology, he expects that they have the potential for a much faster growth than the projected one.
Some of the contracts they were negotiating already have those numbers in one deal, he added.
The human interpreter industry is estimated at $14 billion a year, with the cost running at about $4 a minute, he added. Sagie, an expert in computational linguistics claimed that with their product, they could change the way that people communicate.
He also added it was all about people and not technology. Sagie has experience in working for IBM Research Labs as well.
The outsourced translation technology market will reach $33.5 billion in 2012 globally, according to Common Sense Advisory, a market research firm.
Lexifone is working with Telefonica and BT Group to offer its services to their customers. It is in discussion with the United States Government and AT&T, Mexico and its services are soon to be launched nationwide.
Lexifone buys up phone time from operators and then it bills its customers for the services. The call price ranges anywhere between 25 and 40 cents per minute for prepaid calls worth $10, and drops to between 15 and 20 cents for buyers of monthly packages worth $20 and $200.
Sagie believes Lexifone could add particular value to call centers spread around the world. It can be used in hotels to translate calls between reception and the guests, thus facilitating better communication.
Intertainment Media of Canada paid $2 million for a 25-percent stake in Lexifone, and has an option to buy the rest. Itay, Sagie’s son and vice president of sales, said they had enough revenue to sustain themselves, but if they wanted to quickly expand in a major way, they would have to raise more money.
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