Linq
Linq App Inc. provides a unified messaging API for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice, enabling AI agents and businesses to communicate natively within consumer messaging apps. Founded in 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama, it serves AI agent developers and enterprise customers including Poke, Tomo, and Kalshi.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersBirmingham, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Linq does
Linq App Inc. is a Birmingham, Alabama-based communications infrastructure company that operates a unified messaging API spanning iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice channels. Founded in 2019 by three former Shipt executives — Elliott Potter (CEO), Patrick Sullivan (CTO), and Jared Mattsson (President) — the company originally launched as a digital business card and QR/NFC networking product before pivoting in early 2025 to AI agent messaging infrastructure following the viral launch of the Poke AI assistant on iMessage.
The core product is the Linq Partner API, which allows AI agents and businesses to send and receive messages natively within iMessage (appearing as blue bubbles), RCS, SMS, and Voice, with support for emoji reactions, voice notes, rich media, typing indicators, group chats, and read receipts. The platform is SOC 2 Type II certified, offers a zero-data-retention option, and provides developer tools including an npm CLI package, a free sandbox, and an official Vercel Chat SDK adapter. Linq processes 150M+ messages cumulatively across 100+ customers sending 30M+ messages monthly, serving a customer base that includes consumer AI companies (Poke, Tomo, Clay, Lindy, Pika, Anything, Slash, Emergent, Zo Computer) and prediction-market platform Kalshi. Technical differentiators include a proprietary two-stage AI gate classifier (Haiku + Sonnet) for agent participation in group chats, 99.994% delivery rate, P95 latency under 90ms, and a claimed ~90% cost advantage versus legacy communications API providers.
Linq monetizes through subscription-based enterprise tiers and usage-based sandbox-to-paid conversion, with pricing designed to undercut per-message legacy carriers. The company employs 11–50 people across Birmingham, New York, and San Francisco, has raised approximately $22.5M in total disclosed funding (a $2.5M seed in 2021 from Mucker Capital and a $20M Series A in February 2026 co-led by TQ Ventures and Mucker Capital), and reports 295% net revenue retention with zero churn in the eight months following its API launch. Product extensions include Linq One (mobile CRM), Linq Blue (iMessage sales automation integrated with GoHighLevel), and the @linqapp/chat-sdk-adapter for Vercel's Chat SDK.
Linq firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Linq
- Legal name
- Linq App Inc.
- Website
- https://linqapp.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Linq App Inc. provides a unified messaging API for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice, enabling AI agents and businesses to communicate natively within consumer messaging apps. Founded in 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama, it serves AI agent developers and enterprise customers including Poke, Tomo, and Kalshi.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Linq industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Communications API Platform
- NAICS
- Telecommunications (517), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Telephone Communications (No Radiotelephone) (4813), Services-Telephone Interconnect Systems (7385)
- akta.pro primary industry
- ESB & Enterprise Messaging Middleware (HDAEAIAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Contact Center (CCaaS) & Customer Engagement Voice (HDAIAHAF)
Keywords
Where Linq is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Birmingham
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Linq business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- API Subscription/Usage: Subscription-based model with enterprise tiers offering cost-effective messaging compared to per-message pricing. The platform claims 90% cost savings versus legacy communications API providers. Features subscription tiers with scalable message volume.
- Enterprise Messaging Platform: Enterprise tier offering includes API access, CRM integration, workflow builders, and support for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice channels. Priced to save thousands compared to pay-per-message solutions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Sandbox tier for developers to get started |
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise tier for large-scale messaging operations |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Linq product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Linq provides a unified communications API infrastructure that enables AI agents and businesses to send and receive messages natively through iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice channels. The platform issues real phone numbers and exposes native messaging features including emoji reactions, voice notes, rich media, typing indicators, group chats, and read receipts. It targets AI agent developers and enterprises that need scalable, cost-effective messaging without requiring end users to download a separate application.
Product overview
Linq is a communication infrastructure company offering a unified messaging API that enables AI agents and businesses to reach users through iMessage, RCS, SMS, and voice channels. The core product is the Linq Partner API, which powers AI assistants operating natively within messaging apps. The product portfolio includes Linq One (mobile-first CRM), Linq Blue (iMessage sales automation), the Linq CLI and Sandbox for developers, and the official @linqapp/chat-sdk-adapter for Vercel's Chat SDK. The platform serves over 100 customers including AI companies like Tomo and Poke, sending more than 30 million messages monthly, with pricing approximately 90% below legacy communications API providers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Linq One: A mobile-first CRM platform designed for sales professionals to manage customer interactions and close deals remotely.
- Linq Blue
- Linq Partner API
Products and services
- Linq Partner API The core communications API infrastructure enabling businesses and AI agents to send messages via iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice. Supports webhooks, real-time delivery, typing indicators, read receipts, rich media, and native iMessage protocol features including tapbacks and group chats.
- Linq One A mobile-first CRM platform designed for sales professionals to manage customer interactions and close deals remotely. Integrates communication features and tools for organizing and finalizing sales on the go.
- Linq Blue An iMessage automation tool for sales outreach that automates and personalizes messages via iMessage without requiring an iPhone. Integrates with popular CRM platforms and provides features including scheduled messaging, campaign sequences, and unlimited messaging capabilities.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% lower cost than legacy communications API providers
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Linq
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Linq technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability7 records
Feature8 records
Linq partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- VercelcoreLinq is an official vendor adapter for Vercel's Chat SDK, enabling developers to build AI agents that work across iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, and Teams from a unified codebase. Integration maintained by Vercel and includes HMAC-verified webhooks, rich media support, and native tapback mapping.
- The Interaction Company of California (Poke)flagshipStrategic customer-partner whose viral AI assistant Poke catalyzed Linq's pivot to AI infrastructure. Linq built custom zero data retention features for Poke and maintains close collaborative relationship. Poke's viral growth validated the AI agent messaging market.
- HighLevelcoreIntegration partnership enabling HighLevel users to access Linq Blue iMessage automation features. The integration supports lead management and communication efficiency within the HighLevel CRM platform.
- TomoflagshipFlagship customer building personalized AI accountability product for Gen Z. Linq infrastructure supports scaling from single phone line to hundreds of thousands of messages. Featured as customer story demonstrating organic growth through social media.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Linq competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Twilio: Twilio is the dominant communications API platform offering SMS, voice, and messaging services to enterprises globally. It is a broad incumbent in Linq's category, with deeper channel coverage (WhatsApp, Messenger, email) but no native iMessage API capability.
- Vonage (Ericsson): Vonage, now part of Ericsson, provides communications APIs for SMS, voice, and video serving enterprise developers. It is a broad incumbent with deeper enterprise relationships but lacks Linq's iMessage and AI-agent-specific focus.
- Sinch: Sinch is a global communications platform offering messaging, voice, and email APIs with strong international presence. It competes broadly with Linq in the communications API space, particularly in SMS and WhatsApp Business APIs at scale.
Direct peers
- Plivo: Plivo is a cloud communications platform offering SMS, voice, and messaging APIs for businesses and developers. It competes directly with Linq in the communications API space with similar pricing models and target customers, though without iMessage-specific support.
- Bird (formerly MessageBird): Bird is a marketing, service, and payments communications platform providing SMS, WhatsApp, email, and voice APIs. It competes with Linq in enterprise messaging infrastructure with broader channel coverage and a larger international footprint.
- Telnyx: Telnyx is a communications platform offering voice, SMS, and messaging APIs with private global network infrastructure. It competes with Linq on developer-first APIs and cost-effective messaging, with similar self-serve sandbox and enterprise tier models.
- Sendbird: Sendbird provides in-app chat, voice, and video APIs with AI agent capabilities built specifically for conversational experiences. It overlaps with Linq in providing messaging infrastructure for AI agents, though Sendbird focuses on in-app rather than native messaging channels.
- Bandwidth: Bandwidth is a communications platform offering messaging, voice, and 911 APIs with its own carrier-grade network. It competes with Linq in the enterprise communications API space with similar developer-facing products and enterprise tier offerings.
- Stream: Stream provides chat, video, and activity feed APIs with AI agent support for in-app messaging experiences. It competes with Linq for developer mindshare in the messaging API space, particularly for AI-powered chat use cases, though without native messaging channel support.
Emerging players
- Kore.ai: Kore.ai is an enterprise conversational AI and agent platform that uses messaging channels to deploy AI agents across SMS, WhatsApp, and voice. It is an emerging player that overlaps with Linq in enabling AI agent deployment through messaging infrastructure, but with more enterprise platform breadth.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Linq social profiles
Digital presenceLinq compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Linq financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Linq leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Linq funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Linq M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Linq
What does Linq do?
Linq provides a unified communications API infrastructure that enables AI agents and businesses to send and receive messages natively through iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice channels. The platform issues real phone numbers and exposes native messaging features including emoji reactions, voice notes, rich media, typing indicators, group chats, and read receipts. It targets AI agent developers and enterprises that need scalable, cost-effective messaging without requiring end users to download a separate application.
Is Linq a public or private company?
Linq is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Linq founded?
Linq was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Linq based?
Linq is headquartered in Birmingham, United States, in the North America region.
How does Linq make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. API Subscription/Usage is the primary driver. The others are enterprise Messaging Platform.
Who are Linq's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Twilio, Vonage (Ericsson) and Sinch. Direct peers are Plivo, Bird (formerly MessageBird), Telnyx, Sendbird, Bandwidth and Stream. Kore.ai is listed as an emerging player.
Does Linq have an API?
Yes. Linq offers a Partner API that enables developers to send messages via iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice. The API supports webhooks for inbound messages, chat management, participant management, and sending various message types including text, rich media, reactions, and voice notes. The API is documented at docs.linqapp.com and is used by over 50,000 teams according to the homepage. Developer documentation is at docs.linqapp.com.
What industry is Linq in?
Linq's product category is Communications API Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAIAC, ESB & Enterprise Messaging Middleware, with a secondary code of HDAIAHAF, Contact Center (CCaaS) & Customer Engagement Voice. Its NAICS code is 517 and its SIC code is 4813.