The CEO of language translation AI
scaleup DeepL has downplayed reports that the company is likely to IPO soon,
saying there are a “lot of advantages” to being a private company right now.
Speaking on the Tech.eu podcast,
Jarek Kutylowski, DeepL CEO and founder, discussed a range of issues including
European sovereignty, its acquisition of Mixhalo, its deal with legaltech Harvey, job cuts, and the fallout from its decision to use Amazon
Web Services and no longer process data exclusively on its own servers.
A report in the media last year said
that Cologne-based DeepL, which provides an AI text translation and
voice-to-voice translation service, was exploring an IPO that
could come as early as this year.
But Kutylowski played down a
suggestion that DeepL could IPO soon, pointing to the expected IPOs of OpenAI
and Anthropic as factors deterring it.
Kutylowski said: “I think right now
public markets are a pretty tricky place for AI companies and tech companies in
general.
“This year we have seen massive
shifts in the markets. I am someone who rather considers stability an important
part of a company’s development.
“I do not think that it would be an easy
space to be in the public markets as an AI company, especially with the
upcoming IPOs of the big giants in this space.
“I think there is going to be a lot
of turmoil, and there’s going to be probably a lot of collateral damage here
and there depending on which direction the market sways. I think being a
private company actually has quite a lot of advantages right now.”
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