A startup that uses AI translation technology to make new YouTube channels for creators targeting different locales has snagged $8.5 million in seed funding.
Linguana is led by cofounder and CEO Yuval Tal, an Israeli serial entrepreneur who previously founded financial services firm Payoneer and e-commerce company Borderfree. Linguana will use the funds to invest in technology and onboard more creators, Tal told Business Insider.
Linguana already works with hundreds of YouTubers for whom it generates 10,000 video translations — and hundreds of thousands of dollars of new revenue — each month. It’s looking for established creators with more than 1 million views a month who focus on evergreen subjects.
It’s one of many startups looking to harness AI to help media businesses scale. Dubbing in particular is a hot topic in the creator economy, with the likes of MrBeast championing the tools.
YouTube unveiled its own auto-dubbing features in December, which are currently available on a limited basis.
But Tal contended that creating stand-alone channels results in better viewership. It allows for translated thumbnails and video descriptions, as well as comment sections that aren’t clouded by different languages, he said.
Linguana’s AI technology captures the tone of creators’ voices, and the company works with human reviewers to verify its work.
CMO Jonny Steel told BI that Linguana’s goal was “ultimate authenticity” in making creators sound like they’re speaking in the different languages themselves. He said the company had received feedback from creators that it had a “higher quality of accuracy” than Google’s auto-dubbing tools.
Linguana doesn’t charge up front. Rather, it shares revenues with creators on the backend in a 50/50 split. Tal described it as “additional revenue without doing anything.”
After signing an agreement, Linguana gains access to a creator’s channel. It chooses which videos to dub, removes any brand integrations, and then publishes at an optimal time, along with translated thumbnails and video descriptions.
It also combs through creators’ catalogs to pick videos that are most likely to resonate in other regions.
“You need to do the crystal ball of what videos to put where,” Tal said.
One creator partner is gardener Charles Dowding, who said his six localized channels are now seeing 250,000 views a month. For some international creators in Russia and Brazil, where ad rates can be lower, localization has yielded “life-changing” earnings, Tal said.
Angel investors who contributed to the round include Oren Zeev, Zohar Gilon, Eyal Waldman, and Oren Dobronsky. The early-stage venture firm 2LVC also invested.
Read the pitch deck that Linguana used to raise its seed round below.
Note: Some slides have been redacted so that the deck could be shared publicly.
Linguana’s proposition: “Monetizing the world for video creators”Linguana says it’s optimizing a process where few creators have succeeded
Here’s what the slide says:
Many creators tried localizing to reach new audiences…very few succeeded.
We optimize the content localization process through our advanced AI automation software and unique partnership model. We build and manage the creator’s local language YouTube channels, and share the revenues with them.
The company breaks down its different capabilities
Here’s what the slide says:
From “Yes” to $$$
We split the revenue, but take on the fees and risk
Linguana lists some of its creator partners, including Veritasium and Simple History
The slide lists a sampling of Linguana’s creator partners, including Civilian Tactical, Bros Of Decay, Wars of the World, The Infographics Show, Mentour Pilot, Veritasium, Doctor Alekseev, Slav’s Adventures, The Military Show, and Simple History.
Localized video viewership grew “rapidly” from 19.5 million to 108.1 million in 2024
The chart illustrates overall viewership growth in 2024, which increased from 19.5 million in Q1 to 108.1 million in Q4. In the first quarter of 2025, the company was forecasting 190.5 million views across all localized channels.
Linguana shares a use case for a Russian health channel it’s translated into 11 languages
The slide describes a Russian channel for whom Linguana created 11 additional channels. For one video that originally clocked 4.7 million views, Linguana says it unlocked $12,900 in additional revenue on the strength of its Spanish and English translations.
Linguana shares a use case for a US geopolitics channel it’s translated into 5 languages
The slide describes an English-language YouTube channel in geopolitics for whom Linguana created five additional channels. For one video that originally clocked 600,000 views, Linguana says it unlocked $2,000 in additional revenue.
Linguana shares a use case for a UK history channel it’s translated into 9 languages
The slide describes an English-language YouTube channel in the history category for whom Linguana created nine localized channels. For one video that originally clocked 2 million views, Linguana says it unlocked $3,400 in additional revenue.
Linguana says it has increased both audience and revenues for creators
The slide breaks down the gains in both video audience and additional revenue in each of the aforementioned use cases.
Linguana says it offloads the “complex and tedious” work of localization
Here’s what the slide says:
Localization is complex and tedious.
We offload all the operational overhead from the creators.
Linguana’s founding team
The slide lists some of the company’s top executives, including cofounder and CEO Yuval Tal, cofounder and CTO Oded Shafran, COO Galit Assaf, and head of revenue and partnerships Shuki Merlis.
The company takes on upfront costs in exchange for a revenue split on the back end
Here’s what the slide says:
Costs
50/50 split of all revenues with creator
Thank you
It ends with a thank you page.
The post Read the pitch deck an AI translation startup for YouTubers used to snag $8.5 million in funding appeared first on Business Insider.
