Linkup
Linkup provides a production-grade Web Search API for AI systems, indexing individual "information atoms" rather than full pages and exposing endpoints for search, fetch, extract, and deep research. It serves AI-native companies and regulated enterprises (SNCF, banks, KPMG, McKinsey) via usage-based pricing and custom enterprise deployments with SOC 2, GDPR, and BYOC options.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersFresnes, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Linkup does
Linkup is a French-founded AI infrastructure company that operates a production-grade Web Search API designed for AI systems rather than human consumers. Founded in 2024 by Philippe Mizrahi (CEO, ex-Lyft), Denis Charrier (CTO, previously built a neural music search engine acquired by Spotify), and Boris Toledano (COO, ex-McKinsey), the company is dual-headquartered in Fresnes/Paris (legal entity Linkup Technologies SAS) and New York (Linkup Labs, Inc.), with an additional engineering hub in San Francisco. Its core product is an API platform built on a proprietary "information atoms" indexing architecture that extracts individual facts — each tagged with source, timestamp, and credibility markers — and generates embeddings for semantic retrieval, rather than indexing full web pages like traditional search engines.
The platform exposes six endpoints (/search, /fetch, /extract, /research, /tasks, and the Feb 2026 /fast sub-second mode) covering everything from low-latency keyword search to autonomous multi-step research. Customers consume the API through integrations with OpenAI SDK, LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Vercel AI SDK, n8n, and a shipped MCP server, and use cases span AI agent grounding, RAG pipelines, legal AI, sales enablement, corporate intelligence, and internal enterprise GPT deployments. Enterprise customers include SNCF (150,000+ employees served), a leading Middle East bank (120+ AI agents), KPMG, McKinsey, EY, the German Federal Government, Cohere, and GitGuardian; hundreds of customers have been acquired since the API launched in late 2024.
Linkup's commercial model is usage-based pricing ($0.005–$0.055 per API call depending on depth and output type, with a €5 free credit) layered with custom annual enterprise contracts for deployments requiring Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), private cloud connectivity, IP whitelisting, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR-compliant EU data residency, and zero data retention. The company raised a $10M seed round in February 2026 led by Gradient (Google's AI fund) and a follow-on $9.97M SEC Form D exempt offering in March 2026, with reported employees in the 11-50 range and ongoing hiring across Paris, New York, and San Francisco.
Linkup firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Linkup
- Legal name
- Linkup Technologies
- Website
- https://linkup.so
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Linkup provides a production-grade Web Search API for AI systems, indexing individual "information atoms" rather than full pages and exposing endpoints for search, fetch, extract, and deep research. It serves AI-native companies and regulated enterprises (SNCF, banks, KPMG, McKinsey) via usage-based pricing and custom enterprise deployments with SOC 2, GDPR, and BYOC options.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Linkup industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Web Search Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Enterprise Search, Indexing & Content Discovery (HDAEAGAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Enterprise AI Data & Knowledge Platforms (Vector Databases, Knowledge Graphs) (HDAEANAH)
Keywords
Where Linkup is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Fresnes
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
Linkup business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- API Usage Fees: Usage-based pricing per API call across three depth modes (fast, standard, deep) and three output types (searchResults, sourcedAnswer, structured). Free tier with €5 credit for new signups. Enterprise tier with custom volumes and dedicated infrastructure.
- Enterprise Custom Contracts: Custom pricing for large deployments requiring private cloud connectivity, dedicated SLAs, SSO integration, IP whitelisting, and BYOC deployment. Revenue derived from enterprise field sales motion targeting regulated industries.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free tier for evaluation |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Fast/Standard depth with searchResults output |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Fast/Standard depth with sourcedAnswer or structured output |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Deep research depth with searchResults output |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Deep research depth with sourcedAnswer or structured output |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise deployment (BYOC, private connectivity, dedicated SLA) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Linkup product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Linkup provides a production-grade Web Search API for AI applications. The platform indexes individual "atoms of information" — discrete facts with provenance, timestamps, and credibility markers — rather than full web pages, and exposes retrieval, ranking, and synthesis through REST endpoints (/search, /fetch, /extract, /research, /tasks). Output is clean, source-cited content structured for direct LLM and AI agent consumption, with optional Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment for regulated enterprises.
Product overview
Linkup is a platform providing a production-grade Web Search API for AI, built as a unified API system with multiple endpoints. The core platform consists of /search (synchronous agentic web search with three depth modes — fast, standard, and deep), paired with /fetch (webpage content extraction), /extract (BETA structured data extraction), /research (autonomous deep research agent), and /tasks (asynchronous batch task management). Enterprise add-ons include Private Index (Bring Your Own Cloud / BYOC) for data residency compliance and private environment deployment with IP whitelisting and SSO. The platform indexes individual 'atoms of information' rather than full pages, generates embeddings for semantic retrieval, and returns clean, source-cited content designed for direct AI consumption.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Linkup /search Synchronous web search endpoint providing ranked sources, sourced answers, or structured JSON for AI applications. Delivers sub-second to ~30s latency across three depth modes (fast, standard, deep) and three output types (searchResults, sourcedAnswer, structured).
- Linkup /fetch Webpage fetch endpoint that retrieves clean, LLM-friendly markdown from a given URL, optionally including raw HTML, rendered JavaScript content, and extracted images.
- Linkup /extract Beta asynchronous data extraction endpoint that starts from a seed URL and a natural-language query, extracting structured rows of data matching a caller-provided JSON schema with NDJSON output.
- Linkup /research Autonomous deep research agent endpoint that handles multi-step research tasks asynchronously over 2-20 minutes. Performs comprehensive web-grounded factual research with source citations. Ranked #1 on SealQA-0 at 61% accuracy.
- Linkup /tasks Asynchronous batch task endpoint that creates and manages multiple search, fetch, extract, or research tasks with pagination, status tracking, and quota reporting.
- Linkup /fast Sub-second web search mode using direct index retrieval without LLM involvement. Keyword-only, with no query interpretation or scraping. Beta availability, optimized for latency-critical conversational AI use cases.
- Private Index (Bring Your Own Cloud) Enterprise deployment mode allowing customers to build a dedicated, access-controlled index inside their own cloud infrastructure (VPC/BYOC). Ensures zero data leaves the customer's environment and meets strict data residency and compliance requirements.
- Enterprise Deployment (Private Environment) Enterprise security architecture including private cloud-to-cloud connectivity (no public internet), IP whitelisting, custom SSO integration, and zero data retention policies. Designed for regulated industries and large-scale workforce deployments.
Quantifiable outcome
- 75% adoption rate increase, 100% unlocked critical use cases, 30% reduction of hallucinations (internal Linkup metrics)
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Linkup
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Linkup technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
AI capability8 records
Feature12 records
Linkup partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- OrthogonalcoreLinkup available on Orthogonal platform as a web search API option. Orthogonal provides workflow automation, and Linkup's integration enables their users to access web search capabilities directly within that ecosystem.
- GPTBots.aicoreStrategic partnership to develop connected and compliant AI solutions for enterprises. Integrates Linkup's web search API into GPTBots platform, enabling real-time information access while maintaining data privacy and security within enterprise AI workflows.
- OpenAI SDK WrappercoreOfficial integration with OpenAI SDK wrapper. Linkup drops into existing OpenAI-based AI stacks without custom plumbing, enabling developers to add web search to their ChatGPT-style applications.
- LangChaincoreOfficial integration with LangChain, the popular framework for building LLM applications. Linkup serves as a retriever in LangChain RAG pipelines.
- CrewAIcoreOfficial integration with CrewAI framework for multi-agent AI systems. Linkup provides web search tool capability for agentic workflows.
- Vercel AI SDKcoreOfficial integration with Vercel AI SDK for deploying AI applications on Vercel infrastructure.
- n8ncoreIntegration with n8n workflow automation platform, enabling no-code/low-code users to incorporate Linkup web search into automated workflows.
- MCP Server (Model Context Protocol)coreLinkup ships an MCP server for the Model Context Protocol, enabling AI coding agents (Cursor, Claude Code) to access web search through standard MCP tool definitions.
- LlamaIndexcoreOfficial integration with LlamaIndex, the data framework for LLM applications. Linkup serves as a connector for web search retrieval in LlamaIndex-based RAG pipelines.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Linkup competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Algolia: Established search-as-a-service platform widely used for site/app search and increasingly for AI agent retrieval. A broader incumbent with a much larger enterprise footprint but less of an AI-first, web-scale grounding focus.
- Google Programmable Search Engine: Google's legacy Custom Search JSON API serving site-restricted and broad-web search. A broad incumbent alternative for AI developers; lacks agentic depth, structured AI output, and EU compliance posture that Linkup emphasizes.
- Bing Web Search API: Microsoft's general-purpose web search API offered via Azure. Competes on price and availability of a large index, but is part of a much broader platform portfolio rather than an AI-native specialization like Linkup.
Direct peers
- Tavily: AI-native web search and research API aimed at the same AI agent and RAG developer use case as Linkup. Directly comparable in product surface (search + extract + crawl endpoints), target customer (AI engineers and agent platforms), and pricing model (usage-based per API call).
- Exa: Neural/semantic search API for AI applications, offering web search, find-similar, and research endpoints. Competes head-to-head with Linkup on AI-grade retrieval, embeddings-based ranking, and developer integrations with LangChain/LlamaIndex.
- Serper: SerpAPI-style Google SERP data provider commonly used as a low-cost alternative for AI agents and SEO tooling. Competes on price-per-1,000-queries and serves the same developer/agent market segment as Linkup's standard search mode.
- Brave Search API: Independent web index offering a search and news API for AI applications. Targets AI builders with privacy-forward, EU-compliant positioning similar to Linkup, with comparable usage-based pricing.
- Perplexity (Sonar API): AI answer engine that exposes its retrieval stack via the Sonar API for developers. Overlaps directly with Linkup's /search and /research endpoints for grounded, cited answers to factual queries.
- You.com: AI search platform with a developer API offering web search and agentic research endpoints. Comparable horizontally with Linkup on AI-grounded retrieval and enterprise deployment options.
Emerging players
- Kagi: Premium, privacy-first search engine that has begun exposing API access to its curated web index. Comparable to Linkup on quality-first positioning and EU/privacy emphasis, though much smaller scale and earlier in API maturity.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Linkup social profiles
Digital presenceLinkup compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Linkup financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Linkup leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Linkup funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors11 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Linkup 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 Linkup
What does Linkup do?
Linkup provides a production-grade Web Search API for AI applications. The platform indexes individual "atoms of information" — discrete facts with provenance, timestamps, and credibility markers — rather than full web pages, and exposes retrieval, ranking, and synthesis through REST endpoints (/search, /fetch, /extract, /research, /tasks). Output is clean, source-cited content structured for direct LLM and AI agent consumption, with optional Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment for regulated enterprises.
Is Linkup a public or private company?
Linkup is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Linkup founded?
Linkup was founded in 2024. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Linkup based?
Linkup is headquartered in Fresnes, France, in the Europe region.
How does Linkup make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. API Usage Fees are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Custom Contracts.
Who are Linkup's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Algolia, Google Programmable Search Engine and Bing Web Search API. Direct peers are Tavily, Exa, Serper, Brave Search API, Perplexity (Sonar API) and You.com. Kagi is listed as an emerging player.
Does Linkup have an API?
Yes. Linkup offers a REST web search API for AI applications, accessible via public endpoints at https://api.linkup.so/v1/. The API provides three endpoints: /search (synchronous web search with three depth modes), /fetch (single webpage retrieval), /extract (BETA - structured data extraction from URLs), and /research (autonomous deep research agent). Authentication uses Bearer token. Three depth modes: fast (sub-second, keyword-only, no LLM, beta), standard (single-iteration agentic search, ~1-3s, can scrape one URL), deep (multi-iteration agentic search-and-scrape chaining, ~5-30s). Three output types: searchResults (ranked sources with content snippets), sourcedAnswer (natural language answer with citations), structured (JSON matching a caller-provided schema). Parallel search is natively supported. Rate limits exist but are not publicly specified. Available to all developers via sign-up with a free €5 credit. Developer documentation is at docs.linkup.so.
What industry is Linkup in?
Linkup's product category is AI Web Search Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAGAH, Enterprise Search, Indexing & Content Discovery, with a secondary code of HDAEANAH, Enterprise AI Data & Knowledge Platforms (Vector Databases, Knowledge Graphs). Its NAICS code is 51929 and its SIC code is 7370.