XL8
Category: Natural Language Processing
AI-powered machine translation startup specialized in media and entertainment localization, offering real-time captioning, subtitling, and dubbing. XL8 was founded in 2019. The company is led by Tim Young-hoon Jung (정영훈). Based in San Jose, CA (HQ); R&D center in Seoul, South Korea. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $11.5M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include KB Investment, Atinum Investment, FuturePlay, KB Innovation HUB, KDB NextRound, Iyuno-SDI.
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- San Jose, CA (HQ); R&D center in Seoul, South Korea
- Team size
- 11-50
- Total funding
- $11.5M
Value proposition
Media-specialized AI machine translation engines trained on "Golden Data" (human-perfected subtitles) that deliver up to 40% higher translation accuracy than general MT services, with context awareness for colloquial/localized speech.
Products and solutions
MediaCAT (AI media localization platform with transcription, timecoding, subtitling, synthetic dubbing), EventCAT (real-time live captioning/interpretation for events), MT APIs.
Unique value
World's sole company dedicated to media-specific translation technology, using Context Awareness models to localize colloquial speech rather than translate word-for-word, with up to 40% higher media-focused accuracy than general MT.
Target customer
Content owners, localization service providers (LSPs), OTT/streaming platforms, broadcasters, UGC creators, and event/conference organizers.
Industries served
Media & entertainment localization, live events/conferences, broadcast, e-commerce, call centers, government transcription (via AHT acquisition).
Technology advantage
Proprietary MT engines trained on curated "Golden Data" (human-perfected subtitles); Context Awareness + Multimodal Translation models; simultaneous machine translation engine (EMNLP 2023 paper); NVIDIA Inception, Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups memberships.
How they differentiate
Focuses exclusively on media/entertainment localization with context-aware colloquial translation, vs. general-purpose MT providers; claims up to 40% higher media translation accuracy than Google/Amazon/Microsoft/IBM.
Main competitors
DeepL, LILT, RWS Group, Naver Papago, Google Translate
Key partnerships
Iyuno-SDI (LSP partner), Zixi (live broadcast), Crowdin, Streaming Korea (EventCAT live streaming, Feb 2025), NVIDIA Inception Program, Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, SK Telecom AI Startup Accelerator, K-BioX
Notable customers
Iyuno-SDI, Zixi, Crowdin, Streaming Korea, Netflix/Disney+/HBO Max (via LSP partners), NextRise (4 consecutive years), COMEUP, Try Everything 2026, SK Hynix, LG, MSS / NIPA, Yonsei University
Major milestones
Founded 2019, launched MT (2019), STT (2020), Live Subtitling (2021), joined NVIDIA Inception (2021), launched MediaCAT (2022), acquired A American Hi-Tech Transcription (2023), won two DEG EnTech Awards (2023), SOC 2 + TPN Gold Shield certifications (2024), Streaming Korea partnership (2025), EventCAT surpassed $1M annual sales; company profitable Q3 2025, KTO Hadong AI tourism pilot selected (2026)
Growth metrics
Surpassed 800,000 hours / 2.2B+ words translated (company About); EventCAT >$1M annual sales in 2025 (+1,250% YoY), used 30,000+ event hours / 7,000+ conference sessions; 1,000+ global orgs; 50+ languages; company-wide profitability from Q3 2025; MediaCAT+EventCAT dual revenue.
Market positioning
Leading media localization machine translation startup; named Challenger by CB Insights among 15 companies including LILT, DeepL, and RWS Group.
Geographic focus
Global (US HQ, Korea R&D); expanding into Europe, Middle East, UK, Turkey, UAE.
Patents and IP
Research paper "Enhanced Simultaneous Machine Translation with Word-level Policies" accepted at EMNLP 2023.
About Tim Young-hoon Jung (정영훈)
Ex-Google Tech Lead & Manager (NLP Search features incl. Events Search, Events in Knowledge Graph, Google Maps, Personal Search); M.S. Computer Science, Columbia University.
Latest news about XL8
More Natural Language Processing companies
Official website: https://xl8.ai
