AI translation company DeepL said on Wednesday it will acquire the team and technology of San Francisco-based real-time ultra-low-latency audio platform Mixhalo.

The move will strengthen its real-time AI voice translation solution, DeepL Voice, and broaden its applications to large-scale settings such as major events and conferences. DeepL will also expand its San Francisco base through the acquisition.

DeepL plans to integrate Mixhalo’s ultra-low-latency audio infrastructure into DeepL Voice to extend support to large live events. It will be able to provide real-time translated audio and subtitles while maintaining a natural speech flow even at events attended by tens of thousands of people.

Mixhalo was co-founded in 2016 by Mike Einziger, a guitarist formerly of rock band Incubus, violinist Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, and technology specialist Vic Singh. Using ultra-low-latency technology, it simultaneously delivers synchronized high-quality audio to thousands of people.

Mixhalo is used at sports and entertainment events involving MLB, NASCAR, Equinox, Verizon, T-Mobile, the Sacramento Kings, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, TSX and others.

DeepL and Mixhalo will jointly commercialise technology. The DeepL Voice API currently supports real-time translation on the Mixhalo live audio platform. The companies are also securing use cases in customer support through Amazon Connect integration and other links.

Vic Singh (빅 싱), Mixhalo co-founder, said, "The biggest challenge as we expanded into real-time translation was finding technology that could keep up with the pace of live speech while maintaining quality." He said, "After testing major technology providers, only DeepL delivered translations that were fast and accurate enough to achieve naturalness at the level of real conversation."

Sebastian Enderlein (세바스찬 엔더라인), DeepL's chief technology officer, said, "With the San Francisco-based team joining us, we will be able to work more closely with the ecosystem of customers, partners and developers driving next-generation AI product innovation."