Ah, summer. The warm breeze against the skin, a refreshing dip in the pool, or a nice hike in the mountains... ☀️ Perhaps watching a fun movie outside or going through that really good book that you meant to tackle for a long time. And yes - there is also coding and plenty of localization missions. That's how we do it over here at Localazy.😃
It's been a minute since our first progress update, and we're excited to tell you more about what's going on behind the scenes. So grab a fresh drink of your choice, and let's get started!🍹
+ TL;DR? 🔗
🆕 Our new CDN, context tab & console features are out / 💡Localazy is now GIST-powered / 🐢 We've launched a translation memory to fight climate change / 🤝 We've welcomed FlyByWire, Mockoon & PoEdit as new partners / 💸 We had a successful second investment round, with 3 new investors and +€1M raised / ✌️ Summer has been fun for our team, which is now also bigger!
📌 Languages, CDN & context tabs 🔗
While our team members have taken turns enjoying their summer (see their holiday snaps throughout the article), we've kept finessing our software to make your l10n & i18n experience even smoother. You can now try out our updated context tabs and our new Organization Billing & Reporting features, making your management tasks easier whenever you log into your projects.
Localazy's Content Delivery Network keeps evolving: the OTA and CDN features can currently be enabled or turned off separately from your Translation Delivery tab. We've also set character limits, leveled our toolbar up, and added support for Korean & Norwegian in our DeepL integration, available in our Autopilot Plan. Finally, we've implemented a few design improvements in our UI, including a new Release Management interface that we hope you like.
Get all the details in our latest release updates:
August ⛱️ | May 🌼 | April 🌧️ | March 🌽
Here for the first time? Don't fret - check out our three-step guide to localize your product for the first time and our newest YouTube tutorial ⬇️
🪄 Leveling up our console features 🔗
Did you know that our good ol' Developer Console has been revamped? Apart from fixing some issues with keys, formats, and other features, we've also introduced the following:
- Language Stats - See a consolidated overview of the state of your project source and target keys & translations.
- New Reporting summary - excellent for agencies and in-house translators.
- Import/Export - reduce friction with external CAT tools.
- Webhooks - see the logs from our console.
You can now add new languages directly from your browser as well. Try this feature out by typing language.new into your address bar!
🧩 Integrations galore 🔗
Reducing friction during localization processes is one of our main goals. That's why integrations are an essential piece in the Localazy puzzle - and we've kept extending them. We've proudly presented two new alliances this year: Strapi and Storyblok. Our Figma integration has continued to be finessed as well, along with other native plugins, and we're excited for new integrations ahead. Stay tuned!
"In the summer of 2020, we worked hard and opened Localazy to 40+ more file formats and frameworks. In 2021, we finally got to black numbers. I'm so excited that this summer was no different and we kept our neverending energy and added many advanced features that makes your localization even simpler" - Václav Hodek, CEO
💘 GIST: love at first sight 🔗
There are many project management systems out there, but Localazy has recently settled for one. Due to our recent team growth and increasing demand for prioritization, we have enrolled on GIST to ensure that all members have transparent access & an overview of our daily task connections. We are happy to report that it's helped us stay aligned with company priorities while doing the best we can daily. ✌️
We've also implemented the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework (JTBD), which now serves as a connective tissue between our product and brand team. This has been an effort initiative of our PM Jan Bílek and our CMO Jakub Dubec, as our CEO points out:
"We listen to our customers, as we have always done. That's why we've implemented new processes with the help of tools such as JTBD & GIST to bring even more value for them" - Václav Hodek
Needless to say, we're really excited about the launch of Itamar Gilead's new book coming this September. 👀 Also, props to our newest recruit, Tibor Panák, who's helped us create our own Slack ↔️ Fibery Daily Standup bot 🤖 to stay in sync across the team & keep all the context connected.
📈 Three new investors 🔗
In June, Localazy strengthened its financial muscle with fresh funding from JIC Ventures, Garage Angels, and 12Bullets. It was our second investment round, which boosted our total valuation to €4.5M. Who would have thought we'd be here when we started in the year of the pandemic? We're immensely proud of this achievement and strive to keep delivering outstanding service to our users for many years to come. 💪
🌱 Speaking out for the Earth 🔗
Community is an inseparable part of Localazy's mission. And climate change is one of the biggest -if not the biggest- threat that humanity is facing. We've combined the superpowers & ease of use of our ShareTM tool to launch one of our most beloved initiatives: the Climate Strings Project. 🐝 Our goal? To populate a term repository of +90 languages that helps researchers and stakeholders all around the world to communicate more fluidly about climate issues.
The initiative has gained some traction in media and among our own translators, and now we're looking to enroll anyone who cares about this cause and can contribute with a little bit of localization knowledge.
Even a few words count! Join here.
📖 Word of the month 🔗
Resilience
The capacity of a community or environment to anticipate and manage climate impacts, minimize their damage, and recover and transform as needed after the initial shock.
Translate this powerful term in your language of choice here.
🗃️ In our backlog 🔗
As usual, we've got a ton of improvements, updates, and new features cooking. Here's what we can tease for now:
- Intercom & Directus CMS plugins in development.
- Improved translation of placeholders via MT coming - meaning that the batch MT translation will not translate placeholders anymore.
- Vastly improved integration guides in the process to help our users better.
Keep your eyes peeled because we're also working - slowly but surely - on a feature that has been very much hyped everywhere lately... Although we're still playing around with some knick-knacks, as you can see below. 🤪
🍻 Spring team-building 🔗
As you may know, the Localazy team is fully remote, so we organize seasonal team-buildings to connect in person and develop fresh ideas. Our latest event took place in Praděd at the beginning of June.
Needless to say, a lot of brainstorming happened - but fun was also capital. Our team went on a 20km hike, shared "a few" beers 🍻, and engaged in a mini tabletop game tournament, where our CEO proved his chess mastery yet again, and every evening ended with an Overcooked 2 session.
As our Marketing & Customer Success specialist Petr says...
"We played 4 at the same time on one screen... That was a true teambuilding experience!"
👪 We keep growing! 🔗
Speaking of our team, we've just welcomed three new professionals in our ranks: Marketing Engineer Tibor Panák, Branding & Visual Communications Specialist Filip Jež & a new Integrations & FE Developer. Tibor is a self-taught junior developer from Brno who was looking for a project to help build continuously - until he found Localazy! He plays guitar & piano and loves backpacking to unusual places around the world.
"The first weeks were quite difficult, because I faced various unknown challenges right from the start. Luckily, the team helped a lot. Work here is definitely not monotonous!" - Tíbor Panak
"My first months have been focused on learning: from concepts and processes to concrete implementations as a marketing designer whose primary focus is visual communication" - Filip Jež
Originally from Vyškov, Filip is an old Localazy freelance collaborator who has recently hopped into wider responsibilities within our team. A graphic design expert, Filip also studied apparel & fashion design and now lives with his wife and his dogs, Eywa & Django, and cat, Quentin, in his hometown. He's been doing "aggressive inline skating" for 15 years, although he's also keen on breakdancing and snowboarding.
🏃 What our team is up to 🔗
So now for the part where we talk about the team shenanigans! Summer has been eventful for all of us: Jan hiked in the Krkonoše mountains, Zuzka relaxed on the Italian coast, and Jakub went on a theme-park adventure where he rode 40 attractions (!) with his kids. In March, our CMO actually became a dad again to a beautiful girl named Josephine - so congratulations are in order for him and his partner Katka! 👶
Our content wizard Petr also had a lot to celebrate, as he just finished his Master's Degree in Business Management. We bet he enjoyed his travels to Poland & his BMW community event with the satisfaction of a job well done!
Meanwhile, our CEO extraordinaire, Václav, has been immersed in intense work sessions but has also found time to play volleyball with Vašík, his 7-year-old, and to relax with a cold beer. Our star designer Ondřej, has relocated to Estonia, where he's started exploring the marvels of the national bogs.
Next, Filip is expecting his first child and has spent the summer with the family accordingly, relaxing at home near the garden and the grill. At the same time, David has enjoyed rollerblading, squash & hikes in Austria as he started planning his upcoming trip to Iran. Lastly, Dan has continued working on his new house - to be finished hopefully in November - and Marta picked up the first fruits of the harvest in the Portuguese countryside.
Oh, and we all shared Barbie memes on Slack, of course. 💅
📰 More from the blog 🔗
If you haven't looked at our blog for a bit, here are some highlights you won't want to miss: from handy Figma & Storyblok guides to new deep dives about localization for digital agencies, CDN providers, and the ever-present AI debate.
