Lilt
Category: Natural Language Processing
Lilt is an AI-powered platform that provides enterprise translation and content creation services. Lilt was founded in 2015. The company is led by Spence Green. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 501-1000. Total funding raised: $137.9M. Latest round: Series D, $45.4M, 2025-06. Key investors include Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Redpoint, Four Rivers Group, XSeed Capital, Sorenson Capital, CLEAR Ventures, Wipro Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Zetta Venture Partners.
- Founded
- 2015
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, USA
- Team size
- 501-1000
- Total funding
- $137.9M
Value proposition
To provide fast, high-quality, and cost-effective translation and content creation at scale by combining human expertise with adaptive AI technology.
Products and solutions
Contextual AI Engine, Connector APIs, Human Adaptive Feedback, AI-powered translation services, AI Video Dubbing, AI Analytics
Unique value
Lilt's uniqueness lies in its adaptive neural machine translation technology that learns in real-time from human feedback, creating a virtuous cycle of improving quality and efficiency.
Target customer
Global enterprise businesses and government agencies.
Industries served
Technology, Media and Communications, Financial Services, Professional Services, Government, Healthcare and Life Sciences, E-commerce, Legal
Technology advantage
The key advantage is the synergy between their proprietary AI and a network of professional translators. This 'human-in-the-loop' model ensures high-quality, contextually accurate translations that adapt to a company's specific terminology and style, which is a significant advantage over purely machine-based translation services.
How they differentiate
Lilt differentiates itself by offering an all-in-one enterprise AI platform that combines its proprietary Contextual AI Engine with human translators. Its adaptive AI learns in real-time from human feedback, creating a continuous improvement loop that enhances translation quality and efficiency. This is distinct from traditional translation management systems (TMS) or pure machine translation services.
Main competitors
Unbabel, Smartling, SDL Trados
Key partnerships
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Redpoint, In-Q-Tel, XSeed Capital, Four Rivers, Sorenson Capital, CLEAR Ventures, Wipro Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners., Customers: Intel, Asics, Emerson, UIPath, Canva, Miro, Lenovo, National Weather Service, U.S. Department of Defense., Technology Partners: NVIDIA.
Notable customers
Intel, ASICS, WalkMe, Canva, Lenovo, National Weather Service, U.S. Department of Defense
Major milestones
Founded in 2015., Secured Series A funding of $9.5M led by Sequoia Capital in 2018., Raised $25M in Series B funding led by Intel Capital in 2020., Closed a $55M Series C funding round in April 2022., Raised $45.4M in Series D funding in June 2025., Launched LILT Assist, an autonomous AI agent for multilingual content lifecycle., Awarded DoD CDAO contract for AI-enabled translation in February 2026.
Growth metrics
Reported annual revenue grew from $13.6M in 2021 to $19.9M in 2023, reaching a reported $30.3M in 2024. Team grew to over 600 employees by end of 2025.
Market positioning
Lilt is positioned as a premium, technology-first solution for large enterprises requiring high-quality, scalable translation services. It targets businesses looking to integrate AI-powered localization deep into their global customer experience workflows, emphasizing efficiency, quality, and scalability.
Geographic focus
Lilt is headquartered in San Francisco and primarily targets global enterprises. While its services are available worldwide, its main customer base and competitive focus are in North America and Europe.
Patents and IP
Not publicly disclosed.
About Spence Green
Previously a research scientist at Google on the Google Translate team. Holds a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Official website: https://lilt.com/