Linq

What Linq does

LINQ (legal entity EMS LINQ, LLC) is a US K-12 education software provider headquartered in Austin, Texas, that operates an integrated cloud-based SaaS platform serving more than 4,000 school districts and 46 state education agencies nationwide. The platform unifies four product pillars — School Nutrition (front-of-house and back-of-house), ERP (finance, HR/payroll, purchasing, reporting, warehouse), Payments (meal payments, school fees, and the LINQ Connect all-in-one family app with 3.5M–3.9M registered users), and Forms & Workflows — on a single AWS-hosted cloud architecture with role-based access, FERPA/HIPAA compliance, and PCI-DSS-level security. The company has grown partly through acquisition, absorbing nine legacy K-12 brands (TITAN, Meals Plus, ISITE, eSchoolView, Registration Gateway, Specialized Data Systems, Script, Alio, and School Finance MI) into its integrated platform.

The business model is subscription-driven: districts and state agencies pay recurring SaaS fees under a Master Subscription Agreement (typically annual billing), supplemented by transaction-based revenue from payment processing (7.8M+ meal-payment transactions per year) and professional services billed at $200/hour. Go-to-market is a direct enterprise sales motion to districts and state agencies, initiated through "Request a Demo" CTAs and supported by inside-sales, conference presence (SNA, ASBO International), and a self-serve family-facing channel via the LINQ Connect app. The company is privately held, received a strategic growth investment from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) in January 2022, and is led by CEO Sharon Love (appointed April 2026) and CTO Eric Wood, with Sharron Bragg as CRO, Mike Borges as CCO, and Stuart Gahm as Interim CFO.

Name

Linq

Legal name

EMS LINQ, LLC

Website

https://linq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

LINQ (EMS LINQ, LLC) is a US K-12 vertical SaaS provider offering an integrated cloud platform for Nutrition, ERP, Payments, and Forms & Workflows to 4,000+ school districts and 46 state education agencies nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Education Administrative Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise/School-District Virtual Tutoring Providers (B2B2C) (EDANAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Special Education Staffing & Contracted Providers (Paras, Therapists, Specialists) (EDAJAKAL)

Keywords

• K-12 education software
• School nutrition software
• Education ERP software
• School payment processing
• State nutrition administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Wilmington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription / SaaS licensing: Primary revenue stream delivered via the LINQ Master Subscription Agreement; recurring subscriptions across Nutrition (District & State), ERP (Finance/HR/Payroll/Purchasing/Reporting), Payments (Meal Payments, School Payments, LINQ Connect), and Forms & Workflows modules. Subscription terms align with program years (e.g., S-EBT subscription aligns with SFSP Federal Program Year Oct 1–Sept 30).
2. Professional Services: Project-based services for implementation, requirements gathering, customization and training — billed at $200/hour for supplemental services beyond the SOW scope, plus reimbursement of travel/out-of-pocket expenses per LINQ's expense policy.
3. Payment processing / transaction-based revenue: LINQ Payments facilitates credit, debit, ACH and partial payments for meals and school fees; the platform processes 7.8M+ meal-payment transactions per year, implying transaction- or processor-fee revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

LINQ sells an integrated cloud-based K-12 Business Platform that unifies school Nutrition operations (Point of Service, menu planning, production, inventory, state nutrition administration including S-EBT and eGrants), K-12 ERP (Finance & Accounting, HR & Payroll, Purchasing, Reporting & Compliance, Warehouse Management), centralized Payments (meal payments, school fees), and digital Forms & Workflows under annual SaaS subscriptions to U.S. school districts and state education agencies. A consumer-facing mobile and web app, LINQ Connect, lets parents pay fees, fund meal accounts, submit applications and view menus on behalf of their district. Professional services for implementation, customization and training are billed at $200/hour beyond the Statement of Work.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LINQ School Nutrition: K-12 school nutrition software suite covering front-of-house and back-of-house operations.
• LINQ ERP
• LINQ State Nutrition
• LINQ Payments
• LINQ Connect
• LINQ Forms & Workflows
• TITAN, a LINQ Solution

Products and services

• LINQ School Nutrition (TITAN) District-level K-12 nutrition solution (formerly TITAN) that connects front-of-house and back-of-house operations, including Point of Service, application processing, production records, inventory management, and menu planning for U.S. K-12 public school districts.
• LINQ State Nutrition State-agency solution covering School Nutrition Programs (NSLP), Summer Food Service Programs (SFSP), Child and Adult Care Food Programs (CACFP), Food Distribution Programs, applications, claims for reimbursements, compliance reviews, and reporting for U.S. state education agencies.
• LINQ ERP

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced K-12 nutrition process from 28 steps to 7 (St. Vrain Valley School District)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationLINQ hosts its cloud platform on AWS and references AWS as part of its security architecture for Technology Directors. AWS underpins the SaaS infrastructure that delivers the LINQ ERP, Nutrition, Payments and Forms & Workflows products to districts and state agencies.
• Salesforce (CRM / customer support portal infrastructure)coreTechnology or IntegrationSalesforce cookies (BrowserId) appear on the site and Salesforce is used to route inbound support and product inquiries; Salesforce-hosted resources deliver customer collateral (e.g., banner imagery hosted on emslinq313547.my.salesforce.com).
• HubSpot (Marketing Automation / CRM)coreTechnology or IntegrationHubSpot cookies (__hstc, hubspotutk, __hssrc, __hssc) power marketing automation, visitor tracking and form capture on linq.com; LINQ Connect Resource Center is also distributed via HubSpot-hosted PDFs (hubspotusercontent-na1.net).
• Cloudflare (CDN / Security)coreTechnology or IntegrationCloudflare cookies (__cf_bm, _cfuvid) provide bot management and session continuity; Cloudflare fronts the linq.com marketing site and the broader application platform.
• WordPress (CMS)coreTechnology or IntegrationLINQ's marketing website (linq.com) is built on WordPress ("Proudly powered by WordPress"), with the LINQ custom theme controlling UX.
• Nebo School District (Customer co-presenter)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerRyan Kay, Child Nutrition Coordinator at Nebo School District, co-presented the "Make Cafeteria Lines Fly" live webinar with LINQ's Senior Product Marketing Manager Paige Bates — a customer-co-marketing arrangement for the Nutrition Leaders hub.
• ASBO International (Association / event partner)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerLINQ exhibited and presented K-12 budgeting strategies at the ASBO International Annual Meeting & Expo and is listed as a Booth #403 exhibitor at the 2026 AC&E in Pittsburgh.
• School Nutrition Association (SNA) and state SNA chaptersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLINQ exhibits at TX SNA (TASN), the SNA Annual National Conference (ANC), and CA SNA — co-marketing channels and category-event sponsorships for the K-12 nutrition segment.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Frontline Education: K-12-specialized software provider for HR, payroll, absence management and finance workflows (includes Harris School Solutions). Competes directly with LINQ ERP in K-12 finance and people operations.
• Infinite Campus: K-12 SIS and operations platform serving districts and state agencies. Competes with LINQ's SIS-integrated payments and ERP offerings and shares the state-agency go-to-market motion.
• PowerSchool Holdings: Largest K-12 student information and operations platform in North America. Competes head-to-head with LINQ in K-12 SIS-adjacent ERP, payments, and increasingly nutrition workflows serving the same U.S. K-12 district buyers.
• Nutrislice: School menu publishing and nutrition communications platform. Overlaps with LINQ's digital menu board and parent-facing nutrition communications within LINQ Connect.
• Primero Edge: Purpose-built K-12 nutrition management software (menu planning, production, inventory, point of service). Direct competitor to LINQ School Nutrition's front- and back-of-house modules.
• Skyward (Student Management Systems): Established K-12 SIS, ERP and finance platform used by thousands of U.S. school districts. Directly competes with LINQ ERP for district business-office and student-information system wallet share.
• PaySchools: K-12 centralized online payments platform for meal accounts and school fees. Competes with LINQ Payments and LINQ Meal Payments at the district level for school-fee collection.
• MioCare (MySchoolBucks / Nutrikids parent brands): K-12 payments and nutrition software provider (formerly Heartland Payment Systems K-12 unit). Competes directly with LINQ Meal Payments and LINQ Nutrition for cafeteria and school-fee wallet share.

Broad incumbents

• Tyler Technologies: Large public-sector ERP software provider serving K-12, state and local government. Overlaps with LINQ in K-12 ERP (finance, HR/payroll, purchasing) but as part of a much broader government software portfolio rather than a K-12-specialist.

Emerging players

• Edlogics: K-12 health and wellness communications and benefits platform. Adjacent to LINQ's nutrition, wellness and parent-engagement surfaces via LINQ Connect, with partial rather than direct overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/emslinq
• Facebookfacebook.com/EMSLINQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ems-linq-inc
• Instagraminstagram.com/linqk12

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A6 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Linq