Interview with Anna Albinson, CEO of Gridly: Efficient localization for gaming and beyond

CEO Anna Albinson reveals Gridly's expansion beyond gaming, their upcoming comprehensive solution combining content and translation functionality, and how they're integrating AI with accountability. Learn how this innovative platform is streamlining complex content pipelines for global companies while maintaining high quality standards across languages.
Product
 04-09-2025        Quang Pham
Interview with Anna Albinson, CEO of Gridly: Efficient localization for gaming and beyond

What’s covered

Meet Anna Albinson

Anna Albinson joined Gridly as CEO just three months ago after a year-long recruitment process. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Anna brings extensive experience in marketing, communications, and SaaS, with a strong background in data and analytics, marketing, sales, and business development.

This breadth of experience positions her perfectly to lead Gridly, a company at the intersection of content management and localization technology.

What is Gridly?

Gridly is a fully SaaS platform focused on content management and localization. What makes Gridly unique is its origin story – it was founded by game developers who were struggling with content scaling challenges in their own work.

“The name ‘Gridly’ actually comes from the grid design of Excel and Google Sheets,” Anna explains. “It was launched specifically as a content management platform for game companies to handle their complex localization needs.”

Today, Gridly serves major gaming companies like Warner Bros, Sony, and Tencent, with over 80% of their client base coming from the gaming sector.

The all-in-one solution

Gridly’s biggest differentiator in the market is its comprehensive approach. While many companies offer either content management or translation management solutions, Gridly provides both in a single platform.

“We’re about to launch our biggest release in Gridly’s history,” Anna shares excitedly. “We’re introducing TMS and CAT functionality within the same platform that already handles content management. This creates an all-in-one solution that’s rare in the industry.”

This integration solves a critical pain point for global gaming companies: managing complex content pipelines while maintaining high standards across multiple languages.

The Gridly experience: Gaming and beyond

For users within the Gridly ecosystem, the platform enables seamless collaboration between developers, translators, and approvers. This is particularly valuable in the gaming industry, where content quality directly impacts user experience.

“Gaming users are typically experienced with localization processes, which makes onboarding relatively straightforward,” Anna notes. “But as we expand to other industries, we’re adapting our onboarding and support to meet different needs.”

While Gridly’s roots are firmly in gaming, with over 80% of their clients from that sector, the company is expanding its horizons. Currently, 20% of their clients come from outside the gaming industry, with particular interest from Fintech and Edtech sectors.

“Different industries have different requirements,” Anna acknowledges. “We’re customizing our approach to ensure success across various sectors, not just gaming.”

The goal is to empower clients to manage the platform independently after sufficient training, regardless of their industry background. This expansion strategy includes tailored onboarding processes and support structures for non-gaming clients who may have less experience with localization workflows.

AI integration with accountability

When discussing AI integration, Anna highlights Sweden’s nuanced approach to artificial intelligence. “In Sweden, there’s a mixed sentiment about AI. While we embrace innovation, we also prioritize trust and inclusion in how AI is implemented,” she explains.

Gridly’s approach to AI follows this balanced perspective. Rather than developing proprietary AI tools, they integrate solutions from established players like OpenAI, Google, and DeepL. Anna particularly emphasizes the importance of “accountability” when implementing LLMs in the localization process - ensuring that AI-assisted translations can be traced, verified, and corrected when necessary.

The company focuses on maintaining proper workflow management and content governance while leveraging AI capabilities. This structured approach ensures that AI enhances rather than complicates the localization pipeline.

Looking ahead, Anna shared that Gridly has plans to enhance their AI capabilities, with a focus on improving translation consistency and context understanding. The vision is to create a seamless content operations platform that leverages AI while maintaining human oversight.

Marketing in a digital-first world

Gridly’s marketing strategy is predominantly digital, with almost 100% of their leads coming through inbound channels. Despite this digital-first approach, Anna emphasizes the importance of human connections. “We participate in industry events to build relationships and trust,” she says. “And when we do use outbound marketing, it’s highly personalized and targeted.”

This balanced approach has served Gridly well, allowing them to maintain strong connections with their core gaming audience while expanding into new sectors.

Looking ahead: Gridly’s 2025 roadmap

The immediate future for Gridly is focused on their major TMS and CAT functionality launch, which Anna describes as “the biggest release in Gridly’s history.”

Beyond this milestone, the company plans to enhance their AI capabilities for better translation consistency and context understanding. The long-term vision is to create a truly seamless content operations platform that leverages AI responsibly while maintaining human oversight.

“We’re continuously adapting based on customer feedback,” Anna shares. “This iterative approach helps us stay aligned with what our users actually need, rather than what we think they might want.”


Want to learn more about Gridly? Watch the full interview with Anna Albinson or visit Gridly’s website.

Localization tips & trends, delivered.

Get the latest posts in your email