Applanga

Applanga operates as a cloud-based localization management platform tailored for the continuous localization of software, such as mobile apps and games. The company was founded in Berlin in 2013, though some sources state 2015, by Christian Stanke and Steffen Römer. The founders, who knew each other from working in the app and game industry, conceived the idea for Applanga after envisioning the ideal toolchain for starting their own game company. Their initial prototype was an SDK capable of exchanging native app and game content while the application was live, which pivoted from an A/B testing tool to a localization platform after users showed significant interest in its ability to update and test translations without developer involvement or app store releases.

In December 2018, Applanga was acquired by TransPerfect, the world's largest provider of language and technology solutions. Following the acquisition, Applanga was rebranded to GlobalLink Strings and integrated into TransPerfect's GlobalLink suite of technologies. The founders, Stanke and Römer, continued to lead the division's day-to-day operations and joined TransPerfect's technology team as directors to help guide the product roadmap for the gaming and mobile groups. Prior to the acquisition, Applanga had raised a total of $856K in funding over two seed rounds from investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator.

The platform is delivered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and consists of three main parts: integration options (SDKs, CLI, API), a web dashboard, and a translation delivery backend. It serves a diverse client base including agencies, developers, and corporations like Hello Fresh, Oral B, and Royal Caribbean, who use the platform to expand their products into international markets. The business model aims to automate and streamline the traditionally manual and cumbersome process of software localization. By integrating an SDK into an application, all translatable text is automatically synchronized with a central dashboard. This allows teams to manage language versions, edit content, and push translations to end-users instantly, bypassing standard app release cycles. The platform reduces timelines by up to 40% and costs by up to 60% through workflow automation and content reusability.

Key features include over-the-air content delivery, in-context editing and screenshot management for accurate review, workflow automation, and collaboration tools for project managers, developers, and translators. The platform supports continuous localization, allowing translation to occur concurrently with development. It also provides integrations for ordering professional translation services directly from TransPerfect. Applanga's technology is designed to centralize the entire localization process, from initial string extraction to final review, creating a single source of truth for multilingual content in mobile apps, web apps, and games for platforms like iOS, Android, and Unity.

Keywords: software localization, translation management system, mobile app translation, game localization, continuous localization, app localization platform, string management, over-the-air updates, in-context editing, localization automation, translation workflow, GlobalLink Strings, TransPerfect, software internationalization, SDK localization, app translation tools, website localization, localization QA, multilingual app management, Christian Stanke, Steffen Römer