logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
  • SlatorCon
    • SlatorCon London 2020
    • SlatorCon Media and Gaming 2020
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Jobs
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
  • SlatorCon
    • SlatorCon London 2020
    • SlatorCon Media and Gaming 2020
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Jobs
  • Directory
  • RFP Center

Get time sensitive Market Intelligence in daily SlatorSweep emails - Subscribe Here!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Advertising with Slator
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Ubiqus Buys Textualis to Grow Private Sector Business in Canada

1 year ago

September 26, 2018

Ubiqus Buys Textualis to Grow Private Sector Business in Canada

M&A and Funding ·

by Florian Faes

On September 26, 2018

1 year ago
M&A and Funding ·

by Florian Faes

On September 26, 2018

Ubiqus Buys Textualis to Grow Private Sector Business in Canada

Ubiqus is expanding in the Canadian market. Slator has learned that the France-headquartered language service provider acquired Montreal-based Traductions Textualis Inc., which employs 30 full-time staff. Ubiqus President, Vincent Nguyen, told Slator that the transaction closed over the summer and was financed through debt. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Prior to this acquisition, Ubiqus already had a sizable footprint in Canada with approx. 45 staff based in Montreal and Ottawa after a 2011 acquisition. Societe Gamma, the company Ubiqus acquired at the time, was one of the main language services providers for Canada’s giant Translation Bureau. Indeed, Nguyen said that the main motivator behind acquiring Textualis was to expand in the private sector. Nguyen stressed that there was no overlap in the respective client portfolios as Textualis’ major accounts are in automotive, retail, and various other industries.

Slator 2018 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Data and Research
22 pages — analysis, valuations, rationale on 48 mergers and acquisitions as well as 10 language tech VC funding rounds.
$380 BUY NOW

Nguyen said that Textualis will continue to operate under its own brand for some time but will eventually be integrated under the Ubiqus name – as is now the case with Celer Soluciones and Traducciones Poliglota, which Ubiqus acquired in 2017 and are now being rebranded. The companies have already begun to leverage synergies, with Ubiqus Montreal moving into the local Textualis office.

Advertisement

According to Nguyen, Textualis’ current Managing Director, Heloise Ouimet, will remain in her position and “share responsibilities” with Xavier Pointe, Ubiqus Canada’s president and CTO. In terms of translation productivity and management technology, Ubiqus and Textualis will run on SDL Studio and MemoQ. Furthermore, Nguyen highlighted Ubiqus’ commitment to neural MT as one of the most active contributors to the open source OpenNMT project led by Harvard University and Systran.

“I very much doubt the accessibility of [Google AutoML, Amazon Translate] to a larger audience” — Vincent Nguyen, President, Ubiqus

Asked about his take on the launches of Google’s customizable neural MT engine, AutoML, and Amazon Translate, Nguyen is highly skeptical: “I very much doubt the accessibility of these tools to a larger audience. You really need to understand what’s behind the black box to make it work. For instance, DeepL is a fantastic tool for generic translation, but when it comes to our clients and verticals, we are much better. The learning curve for Google AutoML and such (e.g. try the Google Speech API…) will discourage most users.”

Ngyuen projects pro-forma consolidated revenues for 2018 to reach USD 90m. However, the Ubiqus president hinted at more acquisitions to come, possibly still in 2018. More broadly, Ngyuen sees no slowdown in language industry M&A, as small to medium sized players struggle to finance the R&D he thinks is necessary to compete.

TAGS

Amazon TranslateCanadaCanadian Translation BureauGoogle AutoML TranslationHeloise OuimetmemoQneural machine translationOpenNMTSDL StudioTextualisubiqusVincent NguyenXavier Pointe
SHARE
Florian Faes

By Florian Faes

Co-Founder of Slator. Linguist, business developer, and mountain runner. Based in the beautiful lakeside city of Zurich, Switzerland.

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
Slator 2019 US Healthcare Interpreting Report

Slator 2019 US Healthcare Interpreting Report

by Slator

Slator 2019 Travel & Retail Localization Report

Slator 2019 Travel & Retail Localization Report

by Slator

Slator 2019 Life Sciences Translation Report

Slator 2019 Life Sciences Translation Report

by Slator

Slator 2019 Language Industry Market Report

Slator 2019 Language Industry Market Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
XTRF Summit 2020 Registration Has Already Started

XTRF Summit 2020 Registration Has Already Started

by XTRF

Clutch Names GTS Translation a Global Leader

Clutch Names GTS Translation a Global Leader

by GTS Translation

Cintra Leads The Way In Legal Interpreting

Cintra Leads The Way In Legal Interpreting

by Cintra Language Services Group

Popular articles

Transcription Provider Rev.com Battles Media Firestorm After Freelancer Rate Cut

Transcription Provider Rev.com Battles Media Firestorm After Freelancer Rate Cut

by Marion Marking

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

by Esther Bond

Deadline 2020: What LSPs Need to Know About the EU’s New Medical Device Regulation

Deadline 2020: What LSPs Need to Know About the EU’s New Medical Device Regulation

by Seyma Albarino

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

    ALC 8th Annual UnConference™

    Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Resort

    by Association of Language Companies

    · January 23, 2020 - January 25, 2020

    Registration is open for ALC's 8th annual executive retreat on January 23-25, 2020 at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Resort...

    More info $795-1,095

Featured Companies

See all
Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

SDL

SDL

Smartling

Smartling

Lingotek

Lingotek

XTM International

XTM International

Smartcat

Smartcat

Memsource

Memsource

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

Wordbee

Wordbee

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Translia

Translia

Welocalize

Welocalize

Advertisement

Featured Jobs

See all
Business Development Manager, Toronto

Business Development Manager, Toronto

Toronto, Canada

Spanish Translator (Latin American Spanish)

Spanish Translator (Latin American Spanish)

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

Brooklyn, New York, United States

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

Suscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2019 Slator. All rights reserved.

Join Our Mailing List

Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter and Language Industry Updates Delivered Straight To Your Inbox.

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