logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register Before April 15th for SlatorCon Remote and Save 15%!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
SOSi Buys Minority Stake in Language Tech Firm AppTek

10 months ago

June 25, 2020

SOSi Buys Minority Stake in Language Tech Firm AppTek

M&A and Funding ·

by Esther Bond

On June 25, 2020

10 months ago
M&A and Funding ·

by Esther Bond

On June 25, 2020

SOSi Buys Minority Stake in Language Tech Firm AppTek

On June 17, 2020, SOS International (SOSi) announced that it invested in machine translation (MT) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) provider Applications Technology (AppTek). SOSi acquired a non-controlling interest in Apptek. The financial terms of the investment and valuation information were not disclosed.

SOSi was founded in 1989 and provides a broad range of services to the aerospace, defense, and government services industries. They offer, among others, language services, military logistics, and intelligence analysis. SOSi is a private, family-owned and operated company based in Reston, Virginia, USA.

Language technology provider AppTek is located in nearby McLean, Virginia, and also has staff in Germany. AppTek operates a speech platform comprising ASR, MT, and natural language processing (NLP) technology and serves customers in call centers, as well as the media and entertainment industries. They also supply the US government and were awarded USD 1.2m in government contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2018, according to regulatory filings.

Advertisement

AppTek has already piqued the interest of several other language service providers (LSPs). In October 2019, they announced a partnership with Straker Translations designed to enhance Straker’s media localization offering using NMT and ASR for subtitling and dubbing. TransPerfect followed suit in April 2020 and agreed a partnership to integrate AppTek into TransPerfect’s GlobalLink platform for use in transcription and subtitling.

As part of the deal, SOSi has become the exclusive reseller of AppTek products to US federal, state, and local government entities; and SOSi President and CEO, Julian Setian, will join AppTek’s board of directors.

SlatorCon Remote May 2021 | Early Bird $ 110

SlatorCon Remote May 2021 | Early Bird $ 110

A rich online conference which brings together our research and network of industry leaders.

Register Now

Slator contacted Setian, who said that SOSi and AppTek had a longstanding relationship and their founders have been acquainted for almost 20 years, during which they have “spoken sporadically about an investment or acquisition.”

Their past collaborations have included a DoD project in Iraq in the early 2000s and “the development of an integrated media monitoring solution for the Army Research Labs in the mid-2000s.”

Setian declined to share specific information about company revenues, but told Slator that SOSi qualifies for the government’s “USD 300 million and above category” and that “translation and interpretation make up approximately 15% of SOSi’s business.”

According to regulatory filings, SOSi was awarded USD 83m in translation and interpreting contracts in 2019 — although Setian pointed out that they also “support a significant number of programs for the DoD, Department of State (DoS), and other federal agencies that require some form of foreign language support that is not included in that total.”

Government and Machine Translation

After nearly two decades of collaboration, “the timing of this deal made sense,” Setian said, because of developments in AI and ML. Moreover, although “the Government is generally slower in adopting new technology,” ASR, MT, and NLP have been a topic of discussion in government for a while, and the appetite for these technologies has increased.

“No government agency has the financial or human capital it needs to meet its foreign language needs with humans alone” — Julian Setian, President and CEO, SOSi

Government’s interest in ASR, MT, and NLP comes from a shortage of personnel equipped to deal with the increasing amount of foreign-language data collected by government agencies, Setian said. As volumes have grown, “automation has become a necessity,” and “no government agency has the financial or human capital it needs to meet its foreign language needs with humans alone,” he added.

Asked about how SOSi currently uses automation and MT within their language operations, Setian said that the approach varies. Part of their work involves “collecting, processing, and translating publicly available information, gathering targeted data, and performing robust pattern and trend analyses,” he said; and they “use neural machine-learning, visualization, and speech recognition to triage, aggregate, synthesize, and analyze open-source data.” 

Slator 2020 Language Industry Market Report

Data and Research, Slator reports
55 pages. Total market size, biz dev and sales insights, TMS & MT review, buyer segment analysis, M&A, Covid impact & outlook.
$480 BUY NOW

SOSi now plans to deploy AppTek’s technology in a range of scenarios, according to Setian, including: (1) court-authorized communication intercept operations supporting federal law enforcement; (2) open-source data analysis and document exploitation supporting the intelligence community; and (3) media analysis supporting public affairs and public diplomacy.

“SOSi also holds several language services contracts where machine translation can enhance the work currently performed by human translators,” Setian said, mentioning the USD 10bn DoD DLITE II contract for interpreting and translation for which SOSi is a contractor.

No Wholesale Departure From Human Translators (Yet)

Describing the role of MT and human translators, Setian said that, “at this stage, we don’t see a wholesale departure from using human translators, so the technology will initially be used to enhance and facilitate the work of humans.” In the future, “we see the reliance on human translators decreasing in certain areas over time with further advancements in cognitive science and technology,” he added.

Expanding on this idea, he said “we need human translators to help machine translation evolve. Humans are currently able to process language nuances better than machines, which is why they have to be part of the feedback loop. But technology is improving exponentially every year.”

“Humans are currently able to process language nuances better than machines, which is why they have to be part of the feedback loop. But technology is improving exponentially every year” — Julian Setian, President and CEO, SOSi

SOSi has completed five previous M&A transactions, acquiring New World Solutions, Defense Group, STG Group Holdings and Vykin Corporation in 2016, and NorthStar Systems in February 2020.

Advising on the deal were Holland & Knight LLP for SOSi, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for AppTek.

TAGS

Applications TechnologyAppTekASRautomatic speech recognitionJulian Setianmachine translationnatural language processingNLPSOS InternationalSOSi
SHARE
Esther Bond

By Esther Bond

Research Director at Slator. Localization enthusiast, linguist and inquisitor. London native.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

by Slator

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
Smartling Announces Smartling+

Smartling Announces Smartling+

by Smartling

XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

by XTM International

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

by Xillio

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. T-Update-2021

    T-UPDATE ’21 VIRTUAL

    by Gerard Castañeda

    · April 15

    Join us at the leading language Industry event for decision-makers. Just pack your agenda for 2 days and travel to the...

    More info €65-421

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

SeproTec

SeproTec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

by Seyma Albarino

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

by Marion Marking

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,800 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.