For businesses expanding across borders, language and cultural barriers often stand as some of the biggest obstacles to growth. Misinterpretations, lost nuance, and tone mismatches can derail partnerships, weaken customer trust, and slow international expansion. Sumit Sachdeva is tackling this challenge head-on through the development of emotii.ai: the world’s first emotionally aware AI communication platform, which is quickly redefining how global teams and organisations connect and communicate.
From real-time multilingual voice and video translation to enterprise-ready integrations that bring global teams closer, emotii.ai is helping companies communicate with empathy and precision across 126+ languages.
Here, Sumit shares how emotii works, what sets it apart from traditional translation platforms, and his vision for a future where everyone can be heard in their own language. He also discusses the evolving AI landscape, the company’s growth strategy, and his advice for founders navigating this transformative era of artificial intelligence.
How does emotii work and what core “gap” do you believe it addresses that existing translation or interpretation tools don’t?
emotii.ai works as an AI-powered, LLM-agnostic communication platform — but what truly sets us apart is that we’re the world’s first emotionally aware AI communication platform. While traditional tools translate words, we interpret meaning: tone, context, idioms, and cultural nuance. This bridges the gap that no one else addresses and moves interpretation from being understood literally to being understood as you intended. With emotii, every conversation – be that in a personal or business setting – carries not just accuracy, but empathy and trust.
You recently unveiled several new features, including teal-time translation and communication during calls. Which new feature are you most excited about and why?
The most exciting new feature is real-time multilingual voice and video translation with the ability to switch emotii AI Voice on or off. This gives users the choice to either hear live interpreted speech or read accurate subtitled translations. Its’ a simple but profound shift and gives people the freedom to connect naturally in any context — from a boardroom to a blind date — with nuance intact. For the first time, cross-border conversations feel effortless, not transactional.
Many organisations operate with different time zones, cultures, and languages. How does emotii specifically support teams working across borders?
emotii is designed for global teams by providing simultaneous, context-aware translation across 126+ languages. Whether in Microsoft Teams, Slack, or company intranets, every participant can speak in their native language and still be fully understood. This enhances collaboration, reduces miscommunication, and improves efficiency for organisations working across time zones and cultures.
Ultimately, with emotii teams can onboard faster, collaborate more deeply, and avoid the silent cost of miscommunication: lost time, trust, and opportunity.
How do you view competition from large tech giants like Google or Apple?
Tech giants like Google or Apple focus on broad, general-purpose translation. emotii.ai differentiates itself with an LLM-agnostic approach, selecting the most effective model for each language pair and context. We also focus on emotional intelligence and cultural accuracy, not just literal translation.
Furthermore, deep integrations with enterprise tools make emotii practical for businesses, where most big-tech solutions fall short. Where Google translates, emotii.ai interprets. Where Apple builds tools, we build connections.
emotii has gained impressive traction in a short amount of time. How do you plan to drive continued growth and development over the next 12 months?
Our growth strategy has three phases: (1) Build scale through a robust freemium user pool to create millions of super communicators, (2) nurture leads via targeted outreach, demos, and social proof, and (3) monetize through premium subscriptions, enterprise solutions, and integrations with Slack, Teams, and intranets. In the next 12 months, we’ll double down on enterprise adoption, expand integrations, and scale engineering to support rapid global growth.
Every step brings us closer to our mission: a world where no voice is left out.
What’s your take on the current state of the AI landscape? Are we truly in a bubble, or is this a sustainable transformation?
We believe this is not a bubble but a once-in-a-generation transformation. The CPaaS and AI-powered interpretation markets are projected to exceed $100B by 2032, and demand for real-time, culturally aware translation will only increase. While hype exists, the structural shift in how humans communicate globally is sustainable and accelerating.
People expect to be understood in their own language, tone, and culture. That expectation isn’t hype — it’s the future.
Given the pace of progress in LLMs and multimodal models, how do you judge which model architectures or directions are worth adopting vs. waiting to mature?
Our LLM-agnostic design allows us to test and adopt models like GPT, Gemini, or T5, selecting the one best suited to the task. We also use prompt engineering and fine-tuning for tricky cases, ensuring precision. We adopt mature models where reliability is critical but remain agile in experimenting with emerging ones to stay ahead of innovation.
What advice would you give to founders and entrepreneurs building a business in the AI space today?
For AI founders, my advice is to build with a clear problem statement, not just technology for technology’s sake. Focus on user-centric design, differentiate by solving pain points that big tech ignores, and protect your IP. Scale responsibly, balancing innovation with sustainable business models. Most importantly, ensure your product delivers real human impact—because that’s what drives adoption and longevity.