Cloud-Based Localization Platform Sfera Acquired by Deluxe

LOS ANGELES: Deluxe Entertainment Services Group has acquired Sfera (Sfera Studios and Sfera Labs), a global, cloud-based localization platform and distributed services firm.

The addition of Sfera’s technology will help Deluxe Localization, a newly formed division of the company, meet the demand for localization in a market where there is more entertainment content than ever before. Deluxe plans to expand the platform to serve as a core element of the company’s overall development of new automated, technology-based processes and services.

The acquisition results in thousands of translators covering more than 50 languages across 75 countries around the world. Initially, Sfera’s platform and tools will power Deluxe Localization to enable asset management, workflow and translation management, automated quality control (QC), and real-time analytics for subtitling in 50-plus languages, accessibility services, material ingest, audio, metadata and quality control.

Deluxe CEO John Wallace said: “We created Deluxe Localization together with Sfera to make sure our clients have the kind of capacity, capability and state-of-the-art technology that just wasn’t present in the industry, and is absolutely required to reach worldwide audiences. The Sfera cloud platform lets us harness our global workforce and the data generated across our businesses to build more efficient operations capable of serving the growing appetite for content around the world.”

Morgan Fiumi, Sfera’s founder and CEO, noted: “We’re incredibly excited to join Deluxe. Sfera is a team of amazing individuals with a vision for developing industry-first technology. Deluxe will enable us to accelerate our technology and bring efficiencies to our clients on a much broader scale. I am thrilled to become part of this iconic brand and join John [Wallace] and his team to launch and drive this innovation.”

Fiumi will become chief innovation officer at Deluxe. In his newly created position, Fiumi will supervise product and development across all divisions of the company, along with the continued development of the Sfera platform. He will work under Wallace. The new global Deluxe Localization division will be led by former head of global language services at Google, Derek McKellar, also reporting to Wallace. McKellar will join the company in December. The Sfera team in Los Angeles will continue to work out of its Santa Monica facility, and the team in India will continue to work in Bangalore.

Ron Horwitz, Deluxe’s senior VP of worldwide localization, added: “Our clients have seen the demand for their content just explode worldwide. Combining Deluxe Localization with Sfera creates a solution for their need—it gives them more capacity, more security and more skilled resources to localize content than they’ve ever had access to before. Having been part of building this organization from its early days, I’m excited to work with Derek, Morgan and the Sfera team to drive it forward with this technology-based approach.”