Jaroslaw “Jarek” Kutylowski is one of the more publicly shy founders. His startup Deep would not exist without his unique biography. Kutylowski was born in Poland in 1983, but came to Germany with his parents as a child. In an interview with the business magazine “USP Cologne” in 2023, he described his first school day in sixth grade as a key moment for his later career. At that time he stood in front of the whole class without speaking German – a formative experience, as he says. “Basically, this experience has me […] led to the point where I stand today. Without this background of the inevitable bilingualism, Deep might not exist, ”said Kutylowski. Even if the idea of facilitating interpersonal communication with the help of AI did not arise that day, the moment had shaped it very much.
It all started in 2016 with the spin-off from the online translator company LINGUEE GmbH. Now, almost nine years later, Deepl is one of the most celebrated AI translation startups in the world. Forbes has already chosen the Cologne -based company twice to the AI Top 50 list worldwide. At the beginning of 2025, the AI startup translated into over thirty languages. This means that Deep is still far behind competitors such as Google translator, which translates into over 130 languages, but scores with quality, urge to innovate and, last but not least, the courage of Kutylowski, who has been defying the growing AI industry in the USA for several years.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/deepl-chronologie/
