Smartling named a Leader in independent evaluation as AI redefines enterprise localization. September 23, 2026 Smartling, an AI-powered translation company, has announced it has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave(TM): Localization Services, Q3 2026. In Forrester's first evaluation of localization services, Smartling was one of four Leaders among 11 providers evaluated across 27 criteria. As AI makes translation faster and more accessible, the enterprise challenge is increasingly what happens around the model: how multilingual content is integrated, governed, measured, and scaled. Forrester's report describes Smartling as a "language services and technology provider" and finds that it "excels at turning fragmented enterprise localization into an automated, measurable production model." The evaluation notes Smartling's "superior innovation" and finds that its "strongest capabilities sit at the intersection of integrated workflows across decentralized systems, quality governance, testing, model control, linguistic asset management, and AI risk management, in which it shows greater maturity than most peers." Forrester's profile on Smartling concludes that Smartling is "a strong fit for enterprises that want an AI-forward localization platform with deep integration, automation, and governance for quality and brand." "AI only creates value when it is running in production across an entire enterprise, and getting there takes more than a great model. It takes deep integration, quality governance, and deeply skilled people. What differentiates Smartling is how we bring leading AI translation technology and that expertise together to deliver tremendous customer outcomes, and to us, Forrester's evaluation recognizes exactly that combination," said Bryan Murphy, CEO of Smartling. More than 1,000 global brands translate billions of words annually through Smartling's platform. Only two of the 11 providers evaluated received above-average customer feedback, and Smartling is one of them. Forrester interviews customers as part of this evaluation, which states that: "Customers praise Smartling's AI experts for consistently sharing their knowledge and appreciate its agentic solutions and open architecture that work in real-world, multiprovider situations." The recognition builds on Smartling's momentum. In September, Smartling was named an OpenAI Select Partner and launched a plugin bringing translation into ChatGPT and announced its acquisition by growth investment firm Vitruvian Partners, which brings additional investment behind its product roadmap, agentic localization capabilities, and global growth. Read the full report here. Standard disclaimer Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. This report is part of a broader collection of Forrester resources, including interactive models, frameworks, tools, data, and access to analyst guidance. For more information, read about Forrester's objectivity here. About Smartling. Smartling is transforming how global enterprises create, manage, and scale multilingual content in the AI era. Its LanguageAI(TM) platform combines AI translation, workflow automation, and quality assurance infrastructure to help organizations automate multilingual content operations at enterprise scale. Trusted by leading global brands, Smartling enables companies to move faster globally while maintaining the quality, trust, and oversight required for enterprise AI translation.

Vitruvian Partners makes majority growth investment in Smartling to accelerate growth of AI Translation platform. September 15, 2026 Smartling, a leading AI translation platform, has announced that it has been acquired by Vitruvian Partners, a leading international growth-focused investment firm, from tech-focused investment firm Battery Ventures. The investment from Vitruvian will accelerate Smartling's product roadmap, expand the company's agentic localization capabilities, and expand its global go-to-market footprint. Smartling will continue to operate under its existing leadership, with Bryan Murphy continuing as Chief Executive Officer. Over the past several years, Smartling pioneered the shift from traditional localization to an AI translation platform that delivers quality and trust together with enterprise-grade workflow automation in an open, API and agent first platform. More than 1000 global brands including some of the world's leading frontier labs rely on Smartling to translate billions of words annually across websites, applications, support content, and marketing experiences. The company has been named to Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for the past two years in a row, ranking third in the business-services category. "The Smartling Team is the best in the business - a team who has spent years obsessing over how to help our customers reach more of the world with experiences that truly drive growth. Partnering with Vitruvian helps us deliver more of what our customers need: AI Translation that enables them to translate more experiences faster, with quality they can trust. We have never been more excited about what this team is building, or more confident in the impact it will have for the brands that trust us every day," said Bryan Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Smartling. "Translation is one of the largest industries being reshaped by AI, and Smartling has built a leading position at the center of this transformation, powering how global enterprises communicate. With its differentiated Language AI capabilities and a resilient business model, the company is driving the next phase of innovation in localization. We are excited to back the Smartling team as they scale their category-defining platform," said Tomer Yosef-Or, Partner, Vitruvian Partners. Accelerating the AI translation platform The investment will provide Smartling with additional resources to: * Extend leadership in AI-powered translation and agentic localization, including new LLM-based quality, evaluation, and self-service capabilities. * Invest further in the Smartling platform - spanning translation management, Language AI agents, and API-first integrations across the modern content stack. * Expand into new industries and international markets, with a deeper presence in EMEA and APAC. * Pursue strategic M&A that complements the platform's language AI roadmap. About Smartling. Smartling is transforming how global enterprises create, manage, and scale multilingual content in the AI era. Its LanguageAI(TM) platform combines AI translation, workflow automation, and quality assurance infrastructure to help organizations automate multilingual content operations at enterprise scale. Trusted by leading global brands, Smartling enables companies to move faster globally while maintaining the quality, trust, and oversight required for enterprise AI translation. About Vitruvian Partners. Vitruvian Partners is a global growth-focused investor with offices across the world. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across asset-light industries. Vitruvian has over $20 billion of active funds which have backed many global winners and leaders in their sectors, including Darktrace, Cognition, Hinge Health, Alphasense, Options IT, Just Eat, EasyPark, Skyscanner, Wise, Global-e and CFC.