Multilingual AI dubbing startup Linguana has announced that it has raised USD 8.5m in seed funding to scale multilingual YouTube channels for content creators worldwide. Investors included early-stage venture firm 2LVC and angel investors Oren Zeev, Zohar Gilon, Eyal Waldman, and Oren Dobronsky.

According to investor Oren Zeev, “Linguana is addressing one of the biggest challenges in the creator economy: scaling audiences and revenue globally with minimal friction.”

While YouTube enables creators to automatically dub content using AI, Linguana’s value proposition takes dubbing one step further by translating, dubbing, distributing, and monetizing creators’ YouTube channels on their behalf using “best-of-breed AI models” and human-in-the-loop reviews.

“Linguana isn’t a localization tool — it’s a global revenue engine,” the company stated, echoing the key industry value proposition of localization as a revenue driver and not a cost center.

Yuval Tal, Co-Founder and CEO of Linguana told Slator, “YouTube’s AI dubbing feature has been great for raising awareness about the value of dubbing, especially among creators who previously hadn’t prioritized it. It reinforces a core idea we believe in: if you want to reach the majority of potential viewers globally, language localization is essential.”

“However, many creators who try these tools quickly realize that quality matters. Emotion, energy, and tone are crucial to viewer engagement, and many automated tools fall short. […] We also localize the entire experience – titles, descriptions, thumbnails – and publish through dedicated channels in each language. This comprehensive approach not only boosts discoverability but enhances the viewer experience,” he added.

“YouTube’s AI dubbing feature has been great for raising awareness about the value of dubbing, especially among creators who previously hadn’t prioritized it.” — Yuval Tal, Co-Founder and CEO, Linguana

Revenue Split with Creators

The company’s pricing model has attracted creators to Linguana, as it does not charge setup or subscription fees, and instead splits revenue proceeds with creators. Tal told Slator that it’s a “full-service, premium model: zero cost, zero effort, zero risk, and real revenue growth.”

The startup accesses a creator’s channel, chooses which videos to dub, and translates and dubs the videos, descriptions, and thumbnails on behalf of the creator. In addition, the startup adds or removes references to brand sponsorships if applicable in the target market, enabling creators to capitalize on sponsorships in-market.

Tal told Slator that the company is “growing 30% month-over-month in both views and revenue” and that its “localized channels are now generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue each month.”

Market Opportunities

When asked about market demand, Tal told Slator, “We’re seeing strong demand across the board. English-speaking creators are eager to grow internationally, especially into Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and many other language-speaking markets. But just as exciting is the demand from non-English creators – in Latin America, Europe, and Asia – who see localization into English and other languages as a path to huge new audiences and new revenue streams.”

“The biggest opportunity is unlocking the full monetization potential of creators’ content across platforms and languages. Today, most creators are under-monetized relative to the global value of their content. We also of course see opportunities to expand beyond YouTube, support more content types, and create additional new revenue streams for the world’s creators,” he added.

The company is reportedly looking for established creators with more than 1 million views a month who focus on evergreen subjects, giving the example of gardener Charles Dowding whose six localized channels are “now seeing 250k views a month.” The startup is reportedly forecasting 190.5m views across all localized channels in Q1 2025.

Tal told Slator that the company is “racing to close the gap” between robotic-sounding dubs and those that are “indistinguishable from the creator’s own voice, both in tone and emotion.” Tal revealed that the roadmap is focused on quality and “expanding our predictive engine that helps us select the right videos, in the right languages, at the right time, to drive maximum performance.”

Co-Founder Tal was also the founder of Payoneer and Borderfree — both listed on the NASDAQ — and heads the company alongside CTO and Co-Founder Oded Shafran, a former video technology executive from IMGN Media — acquired by Warner Music Group.

The founding team also includes Eyal Baumel, President of Yoola and a leading expert in the creator economy, Team8, and former Payoneer executives.