Nations Translation Group Buys Language Marketplace as Canadian Market Consolidates

Nations Translation Group Buys Language Marketplace

On November 24, 2022, Ontario-based language service provider (LSP), Nations Translation Group, announced that it had acquired fellow Canadian LSP, Language Marketplace for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is another move toward the consolidation of Canada’s USD 1.1bn language industry.

Nations CEO, André Palaguine, told Slator the deal closed on November 23. “Our investment will accelerate our expansion plan for achieving organic growth for 2023 and beyond. It puts us ahead of our schedule and gives us the strategic and competitive edge, tools, and capabilities to lead in a fast-growing industry,” Palaguine said.

The CEO declined to go into any financial details and would only say that both companies are fairly profitable.

The combined organization has a headcount of more than a hundred employees. All Language Marketplace staff will join Nations, Palaguine said; and Ema Dantas, founder and CEO of Language Marketplace, “will hold an executive role as Vice President of Interpretation Solutions.”

Palaguine told Slator that the Language Marketplace brand, which has been around for over two decades, will be retained post-sale.

He said both companies currently use “a variety of tech stacks, mostly third-party technologies.” Nations has, however, “recently developed next-generation technologies for our internal use” (e.g., project management, workflow automation).

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Asked if this deal is part of Nations’ growth strategy or more of a one-off, Palaguine said it is part of the strategy “with an eye on international expansion.”

The Nations CEO sees the Canadian market as one where “demand for language services has been significantly increasing in the last few years driven by many factors, including Canadian language requirements, companies’ global reach and expansion, digital content, and technological advancements.”

Against this backdrop, he said, “language services, in all forms, have become more and more a strategic element in the growth roadmap and market-share acquisition of companies.”