During a time when the global talent shortage has been identified because of “the Great Resignation,” employers are finding it difficult to fill critical positions.
While many employers in the United States may struggle to offer the level of salary, flexibility and benefits demanded by U.S. candidates, the market of remotely available skilled talent in Latin America is substantial. What stands in the way is the language barrier.
Viva Translate, an artificial intelligence software company with real-time translation of email and other interactive written communications, is rolling out a private beta designed to address this challenge. The company also announced $4 million in funding.
Founded by a team of Stanford researchers, Viva helps non-English speaking professionals discover, secure and work at remote jobs. Viva Translate provides an automatic Spanish-English translation platform designed for work environments. Focused initially on the millions of Spanish-speaking professionals across Latin America, the solution is accepting requests from prospective users to try out the technology.
Investors in the Viva seed round include General Catalyst, Chris Manning and Richard Socher from AIX Ventures, Fellows Fund, Hyphen Capital, and First Check Ventures as well as executives from Microsoft, Meta, Rappi, PayClip and more. The funds will be used to build out Viva’s engineering and other internal teams.
“Viva Translate addresses a huge market opportunity for U.S. employers and the millions of incredibly skilled workers who may reside outside the country. The job market is now global, and with technology, language doesn’t have to be a barrier for filling positions with qualified employees,” said Belinda Mo, CEO and co-founder of Viva Translate. “Our tech delivers effortless communication across different languages, and it makes a huge amount of sense for U.S. employers to open themselves up to this large, untapped talent pool.”
The talent shortage in 2021 reached 40 million workers worldwide and it is predicted to more than double by 2030. However, an estimated 80 percent of the world’s workforce does not speak English. The new technology will address this scenario, making it possible to unlock millions of jobs previously not accessible for non-fluent English speakers.
Unlike Google Translate and other similar translation tools, Viva Translate focuses on translating intent accurately for the context of freelancer-client communications. Starting as a Chrome browser extension, Viva’s AI-powered natural language programming (NLP) translation product will translate written Spanish communications into English as the user writes. The tool also detects grammatical and industry-specific improvements and clarifications that users can review.
Separately, the Viva Translate extension provides recommendations for remote job openings where non-fluent English speakers can apply. The job opportunities are tailored to each user’s skill set and résumé.
For more information, visit www.vivatranslate.com.
