DeepL acquires Mixhalo for live event audio and translation

In short: DeepL has acquired Mixhalo, a startup that helps people hear and translate live event audio on their phones, and DeepL plans to open a San Francisco office.

What happened

DeepL, a German company known for translation, has bought Mixhalo. Mixhalo makes a system used at conferences, sports, and other live events to send clear audio to attendees’ phones, even if you are far from the stage.

The problem Mixhalo targets is common at big events. If a speaker is using a language you do not know, people often try to hold up a phone and use a translation app, which can be inaccurate because the audio is noisy or distant. Mixhalo is built to deliver the audio directly, which is like plugging your earbuds into the venue’s sound system instead of recording from your seat.

Mixhalo was founded in 2016 by Mike Einziger, Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, and Vik Singh, who is the company’s CEO. The company said it had already been using DeepL as its main translation provider, so the two businesses were already connected.

DeepL has expanded beyond text in recent years. It launched voice-to-text translation (turning spoken words into translated text) in 2024, and it launched a voice-to-voice translation suite in April 2026. DeepL’s CEO said Mixhalo will help DeepL bring these tools into real-world event settings.

DeepL also said that, with this acquisition, it will open an office in San Francisco to expand its U.S. operations.

Why it matters

For regular people, this points to more events offering built-in ways to listen and follow along in multiple languages, using a phone you already have. If it works well, it could make conferences and public talks feel more accessible, similar to how subtitles make videos easier to understand.

Source: TechCrunch AI