Cisco acquires translation startup EzDubs

Networking giant Cisco has acquired EzDubs, a Y Combinator–backed consumer translation startup known for its real-time voice translation technology. Cisco announced the deal over the weekend but did not disclose the acquisition price.

EzDubs was founded in 2023 by Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, Amrutavarsh Kinagi, and Kareem Nassar. Notably, Nassar previously worked in Cisco’s Speech AI group before co-founding the startup. EzDubs raised $4.2 million in seed funding, led by Venture Highway, which was founded by former WhatsApp Chief Business Officer Neeraj Arora. Other backers included Replit CEO Amjad Masad, Replit President Michele Catasta, Applied Intuition CEO Qasar Younis, and Replicate CEO Ben Firshman — with Replicate itself being acquired by Cloudflare in a deal announced Monday.

Cisco plans to integrate EzDubs’ technology into its Cisco Collaboration platform, which encompasses both hardware and software products. This move will allow features such as live, real-time translation — while preserving the speaker’s original voice — to be available inside Webex video meetings and messaging. Cisco also indicated that this technology could eventually be made available to partners and developers.

“The EzDubs team will join Cisco Collaboration, working side-by-side with our product, engineering, and go-to-market teams. Together, we will chart a new course for the industry, one where AI doesn’t just support collaboration, but truly empowers it,” said Snorre Kjesbu, SVP of Collaboration at Cisco, in a company blog post.

Cisco has not yet confirmed whether the entire EzDubs team will be joining, and TechCrunch has requested further information.

As part of the acquisition, EzDubs is shutting down its consumer-facing apps — which offered call translations in more than 30 languages — by December 15.

“From launching the world’s first video dubbing tool that garnered millions of views on X (formerly Twitter) to enabling real-time, voice and emotion-preserving phone call translation across 30+ languages, this journey has been extraordinary,” the startup wrote in a farewell blog post, thanking users for their support.

The translation sector has seen several acquisitions in recent months. In November, Seven Seven Six–backed Palabra AI acquired the live communication platform Talo, while in July, localisation giant TransPerfect acquired the Portugal-founded translation startup Unbabel.

EzDubs’ sale highlights a broader industry question: Can a translation startup thrive solely as a consumer product, or is the real opportunity in enterprise communications? Reports estimate the global translation services market at around $40 billion, and Cisco’s move signals that enterprise demand for advanced AI-powered communication tools is only growing.