TransPerfect Solidifies Leadership Position in Language AI by Acquiring Unbabel
Unbabel's Industry-Leading TowerLLM and COMET AI Tools Join TransPerfect’s GlobalLink Tech Stack
NEW YORK and LISBON, August 22, 2025 – TransPerfect, the world’s largest provider of language and AI solutions for global business, today announced that it has acquired Unbabel, a market leader in language AI. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in Lisbon in 2013, Unbabel is a pioneer in translation AI with a mission to use AI to break language barriers and build customer trust through consistent, high-quality multilingual experiences across marketing and customer service. The company is a graduate of Y Combinator, a US-based startup accelerator that counts Airbnb, Coinbase, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe, and Twitch among its alumni.
Unbabel’s flagship language model, TowerLLM, is the first LLM purpose-built for translation and trained on years of proprietary data. It delivers standout accuracy and adaptability, outperforming leading general-purpose models. Unbabel also developed COMET, the industry benchmark for evaluating machine translation quality.
By integrating Unbabel’s TowerLLM and COMET into its GlobalLink® technology portfolio, TransPerfect cements its status as the leader in AI-driven global content solutions.
TransPerfect President and Co-CEO Phil Shawe stated, “Unbabel is a pioneer in developing AI models for use in translation. We see combining tech stacks as a major win for our shared clients—and we will continue to drive efficiencies through innovation.”
The complementary nature of Unbabel’s technology and team further strengthens TransPerfect’s existing AI capabilities. TransPerfect has long been a leader in developing client- and industry-specialized custom models. The addition of Unbabel’s resources—from proprietary LLMs to world-class research talent—significantly expands the range and sophistication of AI solutions available to customers.
Unbabel Co-Founder and CEO Vasco Pedro, who will remain with the company to oversee integration, commented, “Over the past 12 years, Unbabel has redefined how the world communicates across languages through world-class research and pioneering AI. I want to thank the brilliant Unbabel team whose breakthroughs—including TowerLLM and COMET—have set new standards for multilingual communication. Now, within TransPerfect, these technologies and the people behind them will have an unparalleled platform to scale and deliver even greater impact.”
TransPerfect was advised on the transaction by Baker Botts and DLA Piper ABBC – Portugal. Unbabel was represented by Orrick.
About Unbabel
Unbabel is a pioneer in Language AI, eliminating language barriers so businesses can thrive across cultures and geographies. Its Language Operations platform combines advanced artificial intelligence—including proprietary large language models and AI-powered Quality Estimation—with human expertise to deliver fast, efficient, high-quality translations that get smarter over time. Designed for enterprises managing multilingual content and communications, Unbabel empowers organizations to set performance parameters and create custom workflows for specific content types, markets, and risk profiles. This ensures precision, speed, and control across every channel at scale without forcing trade-offs between cost, speed, and quality. By helping enterprises expand into new global markets and build customer trust through consistent, high-quality multilingual experiences across marketing and customer service, Unbabel is redefining how the world communicates. To learn more, please visit www.unbabel.com.
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is the world’s largest provider of language and AI solutions for global business. From offices in over 140 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 200+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 6,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect’s GlobalLink® technology to simplify the management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.