Jarek Kutylowski, CEO of the Cologne-based AI translation service DeepL, was honored as ‘Founder of the Year’ at the German Startup Awards, as reported by Tagesspiegel. The award came just days after DeepL announced in early May that it would cut around 250 positions – one in four jobs.
The startup association justified the choice by citing Kutylowski’s creation of an intelligent AI-based translation solution that enables simple and precise communication across language barriers worldwide. Kutylowski himself explained the job cuts as a need for smaller, more effective teams with sharper focus and clearer responsibilities to work efficiently with AI. DeepL faces stiff competition from US giants such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Julie Lepique (Berlin) was named ‘Founder of the Year’ for creating a new content category in audio erotica with her platform femtasy. Friedrich Merz (CDU) emphasized the importance of startups for Germany as a business location at the gala and promised less bureaucracy.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
