Kathamandu: Shark Tank is the new craze of Indian reality TV for all the right reasons. Talented individuals and multiple start-up brands brought exciting concepts here. One of those is Devnagri, India’s very own language translation engine. On Shark Tank India, Devnagri presented their Machine translation engine that translates instantly with 85% + contextual results. Devnagri also introduced Pratibimb, India’s 1st image to language app. They even invited Peyush Bansal, one of the sharks and Co-Founder, CEO, Lenskart, to use the app and see the content in the language of his choice. The sharks complimented their vision of making content accessible to all, and they even got the funding. Devnagri, through AI-powered human intelligence, translates up to 1 million words a day.
A brainchild of Nakul Kundra and Himanshu Sharma, Devnagri was founded with a vision to make the content accessible to all and overcome the linguistic barriers by creating stronger connections with the one billion-plus Indians by conversing with them in their language.
98% of Indian internet users use the internet in an Indian language, either exclusively or with English, says a recent Google study. 45% of local language users prefer accessing content only in regional languages. 63% of local language users would like to read exclusively in regional languages. This indicates the prospects and potential of vernacular content in the Indian context.
Devnagri’s platform combines AI and human-powered translation with Machine Learning. They are powered by Kutumbh, a community of 5000 + native language speakers and translators that enable 5x faster, cost-effective, and more accurate translations. The company envisions placing Indian languages on a pedestal.
Speaking on the need for a seamless translation service, Himanshu Sharma, Co-Founder, Devnagri, says, “With more than 1200 dialects and 22 regional languages, India has a vast language translation market. With Devnagri, we want to help brands and individuals reach a wider audience.”
They have already helped some well-known eCommerce, BFSI, and ed-tech companies to communicate with their audiences in regional languages. Devnagri also raised $600,000 from Venture Catalyst, Inflection Point Ventures, and other co-investors.
Nakul Kundra, Co-Founder, Devnagri, stated, “There is a strong need for content in Indian languages to be available over the internet so that people across geographies can be reached and spoken to. We intend to scale our operations to tap B2B customers and enable them to create more local content to reach end-users from Tier II and Tier III cities.”
Today when India is moving towards localization, Devnagri, undoubtedly has a vast scope to expand into the BFSI, Ed-Tech, OTT, e-commerce, and many more industries and help them reach their target audiences. More importantly, they can help the people of India to be more connected, making India truly, Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat Link.
