Rev.com Launches Freelance Transcription and Translation Market

Rev.com publicly launches today as a service where people can enlist freelancers to quickly transcribe and translate their content.

Interestingly, the company was founded by employees No. 3 and 4 at oDesk, the remote-work marketplace, and was funded by oDesk investor Venky Ganesan (who just joined Menlo Ventures). It raised $4.5 million led by Globespan Capital last year.

What’s different about Rev from oDesk, according to CEO Jason Chicola, is that the service abstracts out the people doing the work.

Rev transcription and translation is done by freelancers, but customers don’t have to manage those relationships like they do on oDesk.

Though companies paying to outsource this kind of work is a pretty common arrangement via services like CrowdFlower, Chicola said he thinks Rev can stand out by “creating the best work-from-home environment” to attract talented freelancers and by delivering super-fast services to customers.

Rev audio transcription costs $1 per minute, and it’s usually turned around within a day. Translation costs $0.12 per word.

Chicola said translators can expect to earn $20 to $30 per hour and transcribers $7 to $15 per hour.

Rev had been in testing for more than a year under the names FoxTranslate and FoxTranscribe.