Sms.at

What Sms.at does

Sms.at was a Graz-based, Austria-domiciled consumer internet portal founded in 1999, historically positioned as Europe's first profitable internet portal for mobile phone users. Its core offering was a web-based SMS messaging platform that allowed individuals to send free SMS, image SMS, and participate in chat communities at a time when per-message SMS costs were material in the Austrian prepaid market — a value proposition particularly resonant with students. The platform combined messaging with social networking features (friend networks, personal profiles, blogs), downloadable content (ringtones, games, quizzes), and a dedicated SMS dating service called Herz.Klopfen launched in October 2002, which used five-digit pseudonymous contact numbers to protect user privacy. At its peak the platform handled 30 million SMS per month, served 800,000 registered users, and accumulated over 7 million user-uploaded photos.

The business model was B2C and ad/community-driven for most of its life; pricing for the consumer service was free, and pricing details were never publicly disclosed. Distribution was self-serve through a browser-based interface with no dedicated mobile app. Over its 24-year operating history, sms.at transitioned into a subsidiary of LINK Mobility, a European mobile messaging provider, and the legal entity today is LINK Mobility Austria GmbH. At the end of 2023, the consumer sms.at service was discontinued, and users were redirected to websms — LINK Mobility's commercial SMS/messaging platform for enterprises, organizations, clubs, and municipalities that supports SMS, WhatsApp, E-mail to SMS, personalized senders, chatbot features, and API integration. The sms.at domain and brand remain held by LINK Mobility Austria GmbH, functioning primarily as a referral funnel into websms rather than as an operating product.

Name

Sms.at

Legal name

LINK Mobility Austria GmbH

Website

https://sms.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sms.at was an Austrian consumer SMS portal founded in Graz in 1999, offering free SMS, social networking, and the Herz.Klopfen dating service to 800,000 users before being discontinued at end of 2023 and absorbed into websms by LINK Mobility.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Messaging Services

NAICS

Agents for Wireless Telecommunications Services (517122)

SIC

Telegraph & Other Message Communications (4822)

akta.pro primary industry

SMS/MMS & Messaging Marketing Services (Text, RCS, WhatsApp/OTT) (MPAAAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Consumer Messaging Apps (BPAMACAA)

Keywords

• SMS messaging platform
• Mobile communications
• Text message services
• Bulk SMS delivery
• Consumer mobile portal

Headquarters

HQ city

Graz

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Sms.at operated as Europe's first profitable internet portal for mobile phone users, founded in Graz, Austria in 1999. It offered free SMS messaging, social networking features, personal blogs, photo uploads, downloadable content (ringtones, games), and a privacy-protecting SMS dating platform called Herz.Klopfen. The consumer service was discontinued at the end of 2023, with commercial SMS users redirected to the successor platform websms by LINK Mobility, which provides SMS, voice messaging, and WhatsApp delivery to businesses, organizations, clubs, and municipalities via a browser-based platform or API.

Product overview

Sms.at (now defunct as of end-2023) operated as a consumer SMS portal from 1999-2023. The platform has been discontinued, with users redirected to websms by LINK Mobility — a commercial SMS messaging platform for businesses, organizations, and municipalities that supports SMS and WhatsApp delivery with features including E-mail to SMS, personalized sender IDs, chatbot functionality, and API integration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• websms by LINK Mobility A commercial SMS and messaging platform enabling businesses, organizations, clubs, and municipalities to send SMS, voice messages, and WhatsApp via a browser-based interface or API. Includes E-mail to SMS, personalized sender IDs, chatbot functionality, GDPR-compliant opt-in features, and 100% delivery rates with API integration for direct system connectivity.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% delivery rate, 98% open rate, 35% click rate (referenced for successor websms service)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• LINK MobilitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023sms.at service was discontinued at the end of 2023 and users are redirected to websms by LINK Mobility as the successor platform for commercial and bulk SMS services. LINK Mobility Austria GmbH now owns and operates the sms.at domain and brand, transitioning the historical platform to the commercial websms service.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Plivo: Cloud communications platform providing SMS APIs and voice for businesses — directly comparable product offering to the commercial SMS platform that sms.at now redirects to.
• SMSAPI: European (DACH-adjacent) commercial SMS provider with browser platform and API; closest product analog to websms by LINK Mobility and highly comparable given regional overlap.

Broad incumbents

• MessageBird (Bird): European-origin omnichannel CPaaS offering SMS, WhatsApp, and voice for businesses — comparable in product scope and European customer base to the websms successor of sms.at.
• Twilio: Global CPaaS leader offering SMS, voice, and WhatsApp APIs — competes head-on with the websms by LINK Mobility product for European commercial SMS and messaging use cases.
• Infobip: Global CPaaS platform with leading enterprise SMS, WhatsApp, and omnichannel capabilities — competes for the same commercial messaging customers that the sms.at transition to websms targets.
• Clickatell: Long-established global SMS messaging platform with WhatsApp and chat commerce — comparable in providing commercial SMS reach and migration paths from legacy consumer messaging.
• Vonage (Ericsson): Communications platform offering SMS, voice, and messaging APIs at enterprise scale — broad incumbent addressing the same commercial messaging workloads as websms.
• Sinch: Swedish-headquartered CPaaS provider with strong SMS and messaging APIs across Europe — directly comparable to the websms commercial offering now replacing sms.at.
• LINK Mobility: Parent company of sms.at and operator of the websms successor platform — a major European mobile messaging/CPAAS provider with broader product breadth, multiple geographies, and enterprise customers directly overlapping sms.at's commercial SMS focus.

Emerging players

• ZipWhip (now part of Sinch): Business texting platform historically focused on SMBs sending SMS from existing numbers — adjacent comparable in serving small business/commercial SMS messaging.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/websms-mobile-messaging-services

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Sms.at