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The Slator Switzerland 250 Language Service Provider List

Slator Switzerland 250 Language Service Provider List

Switzerland is a good place to run a language service provider (LSP). Located in the heart of Europe, the country has a flourishing domestic language services market thanks to its four official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh). All major domestic companies, from retail to telecom and transport, communicate and operate in the three primary languages; and are big buyers of translation services.

The domestic Swiss market is only part of what is on offer for LSPs. Switzerland is one of the world’s most competitive economies and is home to multinationals such as Roche, Novartis, UBS, and Nestle, as well as a host of export-oriented SMEs, which all require language services to compete in global markets.

After Lionbridge’s CHF 74m (USD 75m) acquisition of CLS Communication in late 2014, STAR Group remains the only large Swiss-owned LSP. Mid-sized players in the Swiss market include Supertext, Apostroph Group, Diction, Syntax, as well as the Swiss units of Acolad (formerly Probst), TransPerfect, AMPLEXOR, and LanguageWire.

Then there is the thriving, competitive ecosystem of more than 70 boutique LSPs, around 150 small ones, and thousands of freelance linguists.

Compiling a list of Swiss LSPs is no easy task. Switzerland’s central business registry Zefix offers only very limited search functionality and private sector information providers yield a large number of false positives.

This list of 250 companies, whose officially listed “business purpose” is “translation services,” was compiled by combing through data from Switzerland’s 26 cantonal (state-level) commercial registries. This allowed a more granular search compared to the federal Zefix search.

The results were curated and enriched by adding information from company websites, LinkedIn profiles, and owners and / or authorized representatives, in addition to Incorporation Date, Domicile, and Canton.

The list does not contain any financial information. Swiss companies are not required to publicly disclose information regarding revenue, balance sheet, number of employees, etc. The list only contains companies that are incorporated as either an AG (Corporation) or a GmbH (Limited Liability Company), the most common company structures in Switzerland.

The Slator Switzerland 250 Language Service Provider List is useful for anyone looking for a top-of-the-funnel starting point for surveying the Swiss LSP landscape, whether for M&A, sales, or other market research purposes.

Information included in the list are as follows:

  • UID Company Identification Number
  • Incorporation Date
  • Company Name
  • Domicile
  • Canton
  • Website (where available)
  • Company Profile on LinkedIn (where available)
  • Owner(s) and / or Representatives
  • Owner(s) / Representative(s) Profile(s) on LinkedIn (where available)

Disclaimer: Slator compiled this information from publicly available sources and takes no responsibility for its accuracy.