Linktree today announced $110 million USD funding led by Index Ventures and Coatue at a valuation of $1.3 billion USD. The company’s fast-paced growth trajectory to 24 million users in the past year ensured follow-on from previous investors AirTree Ventures and Insight Partners, and new participation from Greenoaks Capital. Linktree will use its new funding to focus on additional geographic expansion, recruitment, revenue streams and further value for its creators and brands via new tools and partnerships.
Linktree is the link-in-bio category creator that enables users to create a streamlined online identity to showcase, and commercialize, their profile. It is utilized by artists and brands globally, including TikTok, Selena Gomez, Noah Beck, Bella Poarch, Red Bull, Shawn Mendes, the Los Angeles Clippers, Comedy Central, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and HBO.
“We are quickly growing beyond the traditional ‘link-in-bio’ company, connecting users’ fragmented online presence and establishing our position as a new sub-sector of the tech industry. This funding will ensure we continue to innovate and develop tools that empower people to grow, curate, and monetize their digital universe, maintaining Linktree as the market leader,” said Alex Zaccaria, co-founder, and CEO, Linktree.
From 2020 to 2021, the platform’s influencer, small business, and music verticals grew more than 300% each, on average. Linktree drove 1.2 billion clicks to commerce-related websites in the last year alone. Today, Linktree users engage across 250 verticals worldwide.
“Trust online is more challenging than ever with the massive growth of the creator economy and increased fragmentation of digital identity on platforms across the globe. Over the last year, Linktree quickly emerged as a brand that creators and their audiences trust,” said Danny Rimer, Partner, Index Ventures.
Dan Rose, Chairman of Coatue, shared “Linktree is a modern identity system for the open web. Creators and businesses today post content and build fan bases across many platforms, and Linktree provides a home-base that brings it all together. We are proud to support their mission to empower the next generation of creators.”
US President to Drive Growth
As Linktree enters this next phase of growth and evolution, it is welcoming Mike Olson as the company’s first President. Mike has a long and distinguished career in the gaming and creator economy having held Executive Growth and Operational positions at Twitch, Pandora, LinkedIn, and Microsoft. Based in the US, he will drive market and category leadership for Linktree and their growing team.
“I’m honored to be joining Linktree at this milestone moment. Over the past few years, the creator economy has grown rapidly and Linktree has led the way through innovations in discovery, engagement, and monetization – there are so many commercial possibilities with an audience of this size,” said Mike Olson, President, Linktree. Among his responsibilities, Olson will focus on partnerships, strategy, talent and building culture across the global organization.
Australian firm Airtree Ventures sees culture as part of the success, “Linktree are not only at the forefront of the creator economy, empowering everyone to grow and consolidate their digital identity, they’re also leading the way when it comes to building a talented team and thriving culture, which has been a critical enabler of success they’ve had to date. With some of the most progressive and innovative policies – from parental leave, to flexible benefits and volunteer hours – in the world, they’re the case study we point to of how to get it right in a market that’s never been so competitive for talent,”said Jackie Vullinghs, partner at Airtree Ventures.
As one of the top 300 most popular website destinations globally, with 1.2 billion unique visitors a month, Linktree continues to prioritize the needs of creators, consumers and brands.
Check Out the New Martech Cube Podcast. For more such updates, follow us on Google News Martech News