The maker of Japan’s most popular voice and camera translator is fighting for its identity, aiming for a billion-dollar valuation on the Nasdaq exchange in two years.

Pocketalk Corp. based on Tokyo-based Sourcenext Corp. sells handheld devices that can translate 85 languages. Since launching in 2017, the company has sold a total of 1.1 million devices, with the latest Pocketalk S model priced at $249. The company plans to sell another 1 million devices in 11 countries over the next three years through a partnership with SoftBank Group Corp.’s mobile division.

Shares of parent company Sourcenext jumped 10% in Tokyo on Friday on the news, the biggest intraday gain in seven weeks.

Pocketalk’s attempt to go international and its U.S. listing sets the company apart from Japanese startups, which tend to remain tied to their home market, the world’s third-largest economy.

Going overseas means the world is brimming with translation tools, including the product lines of China’s iFlytek Co, Timekettle and Cheetah Mobile Inc, as well as Poland-based Vasco Electronics. Pocketalk says it has the advantage of being able to choose from six to seven translation systems to achieve the best results. The company utilizes resources from Google, OpenAI and DeepL GmbH, using proprietary source code to provide the most accurate and natural translation.

Translation apps have come a long way in development, but they fail to achieve natural sounding conversations. Pocketalk is committed to providing nuanced and contextualized interpretation seen at high-level international summits, it said.

The company said its devices are used by design teams at automaker Subaru Corp. around the world, as well as by emergency room doctors at Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital treating patients with limited Japanese language skills.

Last year’s funding round valued the company at 23.7 billion yen ($160 million), backed by investors such as Japan’s ICT Fund and an affiliate of Koei Tecmo Holdings Co. That’s about a sixth of the level the company wants to reach in two years.

Global sales of language services totaled about $67 billion in 2022 and are estimated to reach $99 billion by 2028, according to market research firm Imarc Group.

However, if future free apps deliver a similar level of speech recognition accuracy, things will get tight.

This threat is already manifesting itself as free web-based translation tools and connectivity continue to improve. Shares of parent company Sourcenext, about a third of whose sales last quarter came from Pocketalk, are still down about 75% from the 2018 peak reached after the launch of Pocketalk’s credit-card-sized translation device. The company’s stock has failed to recover despite a surge in travel spending following the pandemic.

Pocketalk is now seeking growth by providing translation services to corporate customers of telecommunications company SoftBank Corp. in North America and Asia.