Can a 10-minute video be transcribed in just 30 seconds? Absolutely! Bengaluru-based start-up Vitra.ai, however, isn’t stopping at just transcription — it is embellishing video content with voiceovers, dubbing, and subtitles, all under three minutes.
Established in 2020, Vitra.ai specialises in transcribing and translating services for videos, images, podcasts, and texts across more than 75 languages, including Afrikaans and Arabic.
It had started off with a simple objective of eliminating language barriers, says Satvik Jagannath, co-founder and CEO of Vitra.ai.
Initially focused on the edtech sector, the company harnessed the power of AI to create video dubbing solutions. Today, the solution finds use in more sectors, including banking, insurance and other financial services, e-commerce, and media, across 50 major enterprises.
Explaining that when the company started out, Google translate was already available and videos — whether on social media or other online resources — were booming even before Covid-19 struck, Jagannath says his company identified a significant challenge amidst this rising trend: namely content was predominantly created in English alone.
For instance, if someone wanted to explore subjects like blockchain technology, or AI, or quantum computing, they largely had to rely on English-language resources. The company saw in this an opportunity to address the needs of students and learners who prefer content in their language of choice.
They soon raised their sights to breaking language barriers in any field, whether business, education or more.
Multilingual money
The global language translation market is currently valued at $56 billion and projected to reach $66 billion by 2025.
Vitra.ai, which is also a part of the Google for Startups Accelerator programme in India in 2023, offers a business-to-business (B2B) solution in the form its website model, and a business-to-customer (B2C) product called Translate Video, which is a web-based drag-and-drop application to get content translated automatically.
“To date, we have raised ₹4.25 crore and are aggressively investing in marketing and sales. We are now focused on our business expansion strategy,” Jagannath says. The venture is backed by 100X.VC and Inflexor Ventures.
The start-up aims to expand it offerings across more languages — at least 100 in all — within a year.
Furthermore, “the next big step is to try and integrate with large ecosystems and partner with large enterprises. In addition, we want to introduce the neuro-metaverse with augmentation and virtual reality, and we are working towards translating the metaverse space as a whole,” Jagannath says.
Vitra.ai is also exploring opportunities for collaborations with state governments, including Maharashtra and Rajasthan, for a wider reach.
It also sees substantial opportunities in Tier 2 cities, which are increasingly sought after by marketers, thanks to their growing spending power. After all, Jagannath reasons, of the top 50 cities in the country, “only a fraction is truly modern and English-speaking”.