London-based startup Subly, offering automatic transcription and subtitling for videos, has announced raising €180K pre-seed funding. The startup, which is divided between the UK and Australia and serves customers all over Europe, has seen a huge surge in users as institutions, creators and companies go online during lockdown.
Subly was founded in early 2020, with a view to help “automagically” subtitle videos, saving businesses and individuals time and effort. But why subtitle a video? The startup states that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, and videos with subtitles are 80% more likely to be watched in full. Plus, hearing impairments affect around 466 million individuals globally, more than the population of the US and Mexico put together, or roughly 5% of humans. Subly is therefore helping to democratise access to content, information and learning.
Subly is accessible for users speaking different languages too, which is handy for a lot of European businesses and startups that might be serving both an international English-speaking audience, and their local region at home. Multi-language support is available in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian and many more languages.
Now, as more businesses are working from home and are being forced to communicate digitally, creating quality online content is more important than ever. Plus, Subly’s user-base has even grown to include teachers communicating with students through distance learning, the NHS and government announcements, and businesses and individuals across all sectors reaching audiences from a distance.
Subly CEO and founder Holly Stephens said: “It’s a tough time for everyone right now, both personally and professionally. I’ve personally experienced how Covid-19 can really impact our lives. From those in education supporting students studying from home, to organisations who need to remain in contact with global audiences, and content creators or business owners who need to increase their reach whilst their usual businesses are closed. I hope all can benefit from using Subly’s automatic transcription and subtitling for free, to make content accessible to all, including those who are of different native languages and hard of hearing.”
Stephens added: “We started Subly to help people. To save time. To make subtitling simpler. To encourage people to share more content. To make content easier for audiences to view and digest. That’s exactly what we’ll continue to do and want to help make this challenging time an opportunity for businesses, creators and everyone in between to reach audiences online. It’s a time for organisations and individuals to try something new or to simply continue using Subly to reach people around the world.”
Subly subtitling will remain free for content creators, with further features due to be launched this summer to further enhance the video transcription and editing process.
