Linkable Networks
Linkable Networks is a Boston-based adtech firm that pioneered card-linked offers, enabling brands and retailers to attach digital promotions to consumers' credit or debit cards for automatic, POS-free redemption at checkout. Founded by Tom Burgess in 2010, it served CPG brands, specialty retailers, and loyalty operators.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersBoston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Linkable Networks does
Linkable Networks was a Boston-based adtech and loyalty technology firm that pioneered the card-linked offer category — a model in which consumers attach promotional offers to their credit or debit cards for automatic, POS-free redemption at the point of sale, eliminating the friction of printing, clipping, or remembering coupons. Founded by Tom Burgess (formerly founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, acquired by AOL in 2007), the company built a platform connecting to American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal accounts and measuring purchase behavior across 180-200 million U.S. cardholders. Its core technical stack consists of the patented SKU Matcher (post-purchase transaction-sniffing with firewall-safe outbound-only communication) and SKU Central (loyalty processor), which together enable SKU-level offer matching without requiring any retailer-side POS integration.
The product portfolio is layered on top of the Linkable Shopper Attribution Platform and includes Linkable Promotions (all-digital store-wide or item-level coupons), Linkable Media (digital-to-store attribution for advertising campaigns), Linkable Loyalty (cross-retailer purchase aggregation for loyalty operators), and Omnyverse (a self-service affiliate network for card-linked offers reaching 50+ million consumers monthly via 30+ publishers including Slickdeals, Shopathome, and savings.com). Linkable served CPG brands, specialty retailers, CPG/grocery retailers, loyalty companies, and financial institutions, with named enterprise customers including Gap, Staples, Starbucks, Sephora, and Redbox, alongside SMB accounts such as Adagio Teas. The business model combined quote-based enterprise SaaS subscriptions with transaction-based take rates on offer redemptions, plus a performance-based self-service model through Omnyverse. The firm maintained PCI Level 1 Service Provider certification, a TRUSTe Privacy Seal, and operated from a WeWork space at 51 Melcher Street in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood.
From 2010 through November 2016, Linkable raised approximately $43-46M across eight disclosed funding rounds from investors including Bain Capital Ventures, CVP Management, Kepha Partners, Citi Ventures, Common Angels Fund, and Blue Chip Venture Company. The company scaled to a leadership bench of eight executives (CEO Tom Burgess, President Mike DiFranza, CTO Chip Correra, CMO John Caron, EVP Jeff Jensen, SVP Sales Ed Wogan, SVP Business Development Rick Wessels, VP Finance Cassandra Kral-Dillon), most with deep prior backgrounds in adtech, retail media, and loyalty. Firmographic data references an acquisition by Collinson Group in 2017, which ended Linkable's operation as an independent entity; no further standalone operating data exists in the source material beyond that inflection point.
Linkable Networks firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Linkable Networks
- Legal name
- Linkable Networks, Inc.
- Website
- https://linkablenetworks.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Linkable Networks is a Boston-based adtech firm that pioneered card-linked offers, enabling brands and retailers to attach digital promotions to consumers' credit or debit cards for automatic, POS-free redemption at checkout. Founded by Tom Burgess in 2010, it served CPG brands, specialty retailers, and loyalty operators.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Linkable Networks industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Card-Linked Marketing and Shopper Attribution Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Price Comparison, Deals, Cashback & Loyalty Shopping Platforms (BPAMAGAH)
Keywords
Where Linkable Networks is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Linkable Networks business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Platform/SaaS fees: Subscription or SaaS-based fees for access to the Linkable Shopper Attribution Platform, including Linkable Promotions, Linkable Media, and Linkable Loyalty solutions.
- Omnyverse affiliate network: Performance-based affiliate network charging advertisers for card-linked offers delivered through publishers. Similar to Linkshare, Commission Junction but for in-store redeemable offers.
- Transaction-based take rate: Take a percentage or fee on offer redemptions processed through the platform when consumers use linked credit/debit cards.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise/SaaS Platform |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Omnyverse Self-Service |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Linkable Networks product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Linkable Networks operates a card-linked offer and shopper attribution platform that connects consumers' credit/debit cards to promotions, loyalty programs, and digital media, enabling automatic redemption of offers at point of sale without printing, promo codes, or mobile apps. The platform integrates directly with American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, reaching 180-200 million U.S. cardholders, and delivers SKU-level offers, closed-loop attribution of digital media to in-store purchases, and cross-retailer loyalty tracking for CPG brands, specialty retailers, and loyalty operators.
Product overview
Linkable Networks offers a card-linked loyalty and promotions platform architecture consisting of a core Shopper Attribution Platform and multiple integrated solutions. The Shopper Attribution Platform is the foundational technology that connects to payment networks (American Express, MasterCard, Visa, PayPal) to enable offers linked to credit/debit cards, reaching 180 million cardholders. On top of this platform, Linkable provides Linkable Promotions (digital coupons with automatic redemption), Linkable Media (in-store attribution for digital campaigns), Linkable Loyalty (cross-retailer purchase tracking for loyalty programs), and Omnyverse (a self-service affiliate network for card-linked offers). The platform requires zero POS integration and operates post-purchase through proprietary SKU Matcher and SKU Central technologies.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Omnyverse: Self-service affiliate network for card-linked offers enabling advertisers to deliver performance-based offers through leading publishers redeemable in-store anywhere.
- Linkable Promotions
- Linkable Media
- Linkable Loyalty
- Shopper Attribution Platform
- Invisible Redemption
Products and services
- Linkable Shopper Attribution Platform Foundational platform enabling retailers and brands to measure the in-store impact of digital media by tracking purchase behavior of cardholders across American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal networks. Provides real-time attribution of marketing spend to actual in-store sales without POS integration.
- Linkable Promotions All-digital coupon and reward solution—store-wide or item-level—linked to a consumer's credit or debit card that redeems automatically at checkout without paper, promo codes, or mobile apps. For CPG brands, specialty retailers, and CPG retailers.
- Linkable Media In-store attribution solution for digital media campaigns, enabling brands and retailers to measure the impact of their digital advertising on actual in-store purchases and optimize campaign performance in real time.
- Linkable Loyalty Loyalty solution that automatically measures and aggregates consumer purchases across any national retailer, enabling loyalty companies to reward and track consumer spending. Extends existing loyalty programs by using credit/debit cards as the loyalty identifier.
- Omnyverse Self-service affiliate network enabling advertisers to deliver performance-based card-linked offers through leading publishers (Slickdeals, Shopathome, savings.com) redeemable in-store and online. Built on Linkable Shopper Attribution Platform and Impact Radius with first-click attribution and zero POS integration.
Quantifiable outcome
- 78% of shoppers want coupons or loyalty redemptions to be applied automatically
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use Linkable Networks
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Linkable Networks technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature7 records
Linkable Networks partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.
- News America MarketingmajorStrategic partnership announced February 2016 connecting Linkable's card-linked offer technology with News America's print-at-home coupon business and in-store marketing capabilities.
- American ExpresscorePayment network partner enabling credit card-linked offers and loyalty programs. Linkable connects to American Express cardholders for automatic offer redemption.
- MasterCardcorePayment network partner providing access to MasterCard debit and credit cardholders for card-linked promotions and loyalty tracking.
- VisacorePayment network partner enabling Visa cardholders to link offers to their cards for automatic in-store redemption.
- PayPalcoreDigital payment partner enabling PayPal account holders to participate in card-linked offers. PayPal processes 11.5 million payments per day with 162 million active digital wallets.
- Impact RadiuscoreTechnology platform that Omnyverse is built on top of, providing affiliate tracking and attribution capabilities.
- SlickdealsmajorPublisher partner in Omnyverse network distributing card-linked offers to savings-minded consumers.
- ShopathomemajorPublisher partner in Omnyverse network reaching home shopping consumers with card-linked promotions.
- savings.commajorPublisher partner in Omnyverse network distributing deals and offers to consumers.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Linkable Networks competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Cardlytics: Cardlytics is the most direct competitor, operating a card-linked offer and purchase intelligence platform using anonymized bank and card transaction data. Both companies enable merchants and brands to deliver card-linked promotions with closed-loop attribution to actual consumer purchases, competing for the same brand and retailer budgets.
- Rakuten: Rakuten (formerly Ebates) operates a leading cashback and digital coupon platform with a global consumer base and affiliate network. Both companies operate in the cashback and loyalty shopping space, monetize via transaction take-rates, and serve both advertisers and consumers through publisher-style distribution.
- Ibotta: Ibotta is a mobile cashback rewards platform that has expanded into card-linked offer capabilities, providing digital receipt and card-linked rebates for CPG brands and retailers. Both Linkable and Ibotta target the same CPG promotional budgets with consumer reward mechanics tied to actual purchases.
- Quotient Technology: Quotient Technology (formerly Coupons.com) operates digital coupons, retailer media networks, and shopper marketing platforms serving CPG brands and retailers. Both companies address the digital coupon redemption problem (only 1% of paper coupons are redeemed) and compete for shopper marketing budgets from the same enterprise customers.
Broad incumbents
- Catalina Marketing: Catalina is a large established shopper intelligence and personalized digital media company serving CPG brands and retailers through in-store, digital, and mobile channels. Like Linkable, Catalina operates at the intersection of CPG promotions, retailer data, and shopper marketing—but with substantially broader portfolio and longer-established retailer relationships.
- Yumi (formerly Datalogix): Yumi (formerly Datalogix, acquired by Oracle) operated card-linked purchase data and audience-targeting services for CPG advertisers. Both companies leverage card transaction data for offline purchase attribution, though Oracle Advertising now operates Yumi as part of a much larger marketing and data platform portfolio.
Emerging players
- SavingStar: SavingStar operates digital and card-linked eCoupons for grocery and drugstore retailers, providing automatic cash-back rewards tied to loyalty cards. Both companies pursue SKU-level grocery promotions via card-linked mechanics, though SavingStar focuses more on grocery than Linkable's broader retailer footprint.
- FreeMonee Networks: FreeMonee was a card-linked marketing platform that delivered targeted merchant-funded offers via bank online channels to consumers. Both companies emerged in the same 2010-2015 card-linked offer wave with similar merchant pitch (using card data for personalized offers), though FreeMonee ultimately shut down.
- Rewardable: Rewardable (formerly Mogl) was a card-linked restaurant rewards platform that gave diners cash back when they paid with linked cards. Both companies leverage card-linked mechanics for consumer rewards, though Rewardable focused narrowly on the restaurant vertical while Linkable targets CPG and retail more broadly.
Regional players
- News America Marketing: News America Marketing (News Corp subsidiary) operates free-standing inserts (FSI), print-at-home coupons, and in-store marketing solutions—the traditional paper coupon channel Linkable aims to digitize. News America became a Linkable strategic partner in 2016, and the two compete and cooperate in the CPG promotional space.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Linkable Networks social profiles
Digital presenceLinkable Networks compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Linkable Networks financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Linkable Networks leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Linkable Networks funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds8 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Linkable Networks 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 Linkable Networks
What does Linkable Networks do?
Linkable Networks operates a card-linked offer and shopper attribution platform that connects consumers' credit/debit cards to promotions, loyalty programs, and digital media, enabling automatic redemption of offers at point of sale without printing, promo codes, or mobile apps. The platform integrates directly with American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, reaching 180-200 million U.S. cardholders, and delivers SKU-level offers, closed-loop attribution of digital media to in-store purchases, and cross-retailer loyalty tracking for CPG brands, specialty retailers, and loyalty operators.
Is Linkable Networks a public or private company?
Linkable Networks is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Linkable Networks founded?
Linkable Networks was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Linkable Networks based?
Linkable Networks is headquartered in Boston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Linkable Networks make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Platform/SaaS fees are the primary driver. The others are omnyverse affiliate network and transaction-based take rate.
Who are Linkable Networks's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Cardlytics, Rakuten, Ibotta and Quotient Technology. Broad incumbents are Catalina Marketing and Yumi (formerly Datalogix). Emerging players are SavingStar, FreeMonee Networks and Rewardable. News America Marketing is listed as a regional player.
Does Linkable Networks have an API?
No public API is recorded for Linkable Networks.
What industry is Linkable Networks in?
Linkable Networks's product category is Card-Linked Marketing and Shopper Attribution Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAGAH, Price Comparison, Deals, Cashback & Loyalty Shopping Platforms.