SlatorPod

#93 Véronique Özkaya on Why Argos Multilingual Acquired Venga Global

November 05, 2021 Slator
SlatorPod
#93 Véronique Özkaya on Why Argos Multilingual Acquired Venga Global
Show Notes Chapter Markers

Véronique Özkaya, CEO of Argos Multilingual, joins SlatorPod to talk about the recent acquisition and integration of language service provider (LSP) Venga Global.

Véronique Özkaya walks us through her extensive career in the language industry and taking up her new role as CEO at Argos amid the pandemic. She also shares insights into the acquisition of Venga merely three months after announcing the acquisition of linguistic quality assurance provider Chillistore.

The CEO discusses meeting Venga CEO Kåre Lindahl at SlatorCon Francisco in 2019 and plans for integrating the core team and sectors. As a result of growth post-acquisition, Véronique gives her thoughts on build versus buy in language tech, integrating a sales force, and the future direction of the company.

First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a bizarre case in Sweden where a British parent was trying to apply for child care leave when several mistranslations were discovered on the government’s website.

Florian talks about the US House Committee passing a bill called the TRANSLATE Act that would require multilingual signage in major American airports. Esther then gives an update on the Language Industry Job Index, which climbed 3.4 points in November.

Esther also gives a quick financial update from Down Under, where Ai-Media generated revenues of USD 11.2m for Q1 FY22. A quarter ahead, Straker Translations reported unaudited Q2 FY22 revenues of USD 8.6m.

Agenda and Intro
LSP fail in Sweden
US bill for multilingual airport signage
Financial update from Ai-Media and Straker Translations
Job index climbs fifth month in a row
Véronique Özkaya joins the pod
Véronique's background into the industry
Shifts in the industry over the past 20 years
Content explosion and evolution of tech
Elevator pitch for Argos
Taking up the CEO role
Experience working remote
Insights into Venga Global deal
Expanding into data-for-AI services
Acquiring LQA provider Chillistore
Buy vs. build in language tech
Argos' marketing rebrand
Sales in the language industry
Outlook for the next 1-3 years