Company: Papercup
Founder: Jesse Shemen
Website: https://www.papercup.com/
About Papercup
Business: AI-powered localisation services
Jesse Shemen founded AI dubbing company Papercup in 2017 to solve one problem – the 99% of global video content currently trapped in a single language.
Using a combination of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and expert human translators, Papercup was created to help content owners from all over the world dub their videos into other languages more quickly and affordably than ever before.
From its HQ in East London, Papercup is producing the next generation of synthetic voices: hyperrealistic, highly expressive voices capable of conveying the original speaker’s intonation and inflection to an incredibly high degree of accuracy across multiple languages.
Since its foundation, Papercup has raised a total of $30.5 million, across one initial seed round held in 2020 and a series A round, launched in 2022. It has even captured the attention of big names in the international tech community, drawing the backing of the likes of William Tunstall-Pedoe, founder of Evi (now Amazon’s Alexa) and Zoubin Ghahramani, former Chief Scientist at Uber, among others.
With videos dubbed by the company receiving up to 28x more views on YouTube than subtitled equivalents, its services are helping media brands of all shapes and sizes unlock more value from their video and reach new audiences all over the world. Major news organisations like Sky News, Insider and Bloomberg have used Papercup’s AI tools to help share their award-winning journalism with viewers in new international territories. The company has helped Fremantle bring international versions of the iconic Idols and Got Talent series to Arabic-speaking audiences. On BBC Click earlier this year, Papercup showcased their partnership with Jamie Oliver, and the AI magic behind the launch of The Naked Chef’s first ever Spanish-language YouTube channel for Latin American audiences.
As the firm continues to go from strength to strength, the accolades it has garnered in 2023 have seen its technological excellence celebrated on an international stage. In June, Papercup was selected as one of the WEF’s 100 Technology Pioneers for 2023, where it was one of only six UK firms to make the cut, and in November, the firm won the Media and Entertainment category at the prestigious Europas Tech Awards. Other key milestones include being named Digiday’s AI Tool of 2023, and Best AI Product for Robotics and Automation at this year’s CogX Festival awards.
2024 will see Papercup announce further new features and improvements to its AI offering, as well as a raft of exciting new partnerships with internationally-recognised figures and media brands. While Jesse is aware that topping 2023’s successes won’t be easy, he does say that it’s certainly looking possible.
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