LinkWays UG
LinkWays UG, operating as EmeraldHost, is a German prepaid hosting provider offering self-serve game servers for 100+ titles, AMD EPYC and Ryzen VPS, TeamSpeak 3, and domain registration for individual gamers, hobbyist developers, and small communities across DACH and Europe.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersKoblenz, Germany
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What LinkWays UG does
LinkWays UG operates the EmeraldHost brand, a German prepaid hosting provider headquartered (per firmographic) in Koblenz and operating its headquarters address in Cologne (Kurfürstenstr. 10, 50678 Köln). The company's core offering is self-serve, direct-to-consumer hosting across four product lines: game-server hosting for more than 100 titles (including Minecraft, Palworld, Enshrouded, Rust, Valheim, ARK, Counter-Strike 2), AMD EPYC and AMD Ryzen virtual private servers (VPS) with full root access, TeamSpeak 3 voice-server hosting, and domain registration acting as an intermediary with registration authorities such as DENIC. The technology stack runs on AMD EPYC 7443/7543P and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors with 1024 GB ECC DDR4 RAM and dual 3.84 TB Samsung PM9A3 datacenter NVMe SSDs per server, virtualized via Proxmox over a hyperconverged Ceph cluster, and protected by Arbor Networks DDoS mitigation rated up to 750 Gbps. All servers are colocated in the maincubes data center in Frankfurt am Main, near DE-CIX, with TÜV Level 3 / ISO 27001 certifications and contractually guaranteed 100% availability.
The commercial model is product-led growth with 100% prepaid billing, tiered commitment discounts (up to 20% off for 720-day terms), and zero-touch onboarding: all products activate within 60 seconds and require no sales interaction. Pricing starts at approximately €1.50 for entry-level Minecraft servers, €4.99/month for EPYC VPS, €9.99/month for Ryzen VPS, €0.20 for TeamSpeak slots, and €4.25 for domain registration. Target customers are individual gamers, hobbyist developers, and small communities in the DACH region and broader European market, with secondary appeal to small businesses needing team infrastructure or voice communications. The company maintains a self-funded posture (a single disclosed funding event with $0 capital in August 2020), operates with 1-10 employees, and relies on organic community-led acquisition through Discord, an open GitHub documentation repository (with €10 credit per accepted contribution), and a presence across seven social platforms.
The go-to-market is exclusively digital: a German/English e-commerce storefront at emeraldhost.de with instant self-serve provisioning and customer support delivered via Discord, knowledge base, and direct channels on a 24/7/365 basis. No third-party resellers, marketplaces, or enterprise sales motion are disclosed; select game-publisher relationships confer "Official Hoster" status for certain titles, and the company awaits a TeamSpeak 6 provider license to extend its voice-server offering beyond TeamSpeak 3.
LinkWays UG firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- LinkWays UG
- Legal name
- EmeraldHost UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
- Website
- https://emeraldhost.de
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- LinkWays UG, operating as EmeraldHost, is a German prepaid hosting provider offering self-serve game servers for 100+ titles, AMD EPYC and Ryzen VPS, TeamSpeak 3, and domain registration for individual gamers, hobbyist developers, and small communities across DACH and Europe.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
LinkWays UG industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Game Server Hosting
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Game Server Hosting & Community Infrastructure (private servers, matchmaking communities) (MPAFAIAF)
Keywords
Where LinkWays UG is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Koblenz
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
LinkWays UG business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Game Server Hosting: Rental of prepaid game servers across 100+ game titles (Minecraft, Palworld, Enshrouded, Rust, Valheim, ARK, Counter-Strike 2, etc.). Revenue accrues per prepaid billing cycle (10–720 days). Recurring revenue driven by renewal and multi-server usage. Discounts offered for longer commitment periods (up to 20% off for 720-day terms).
- AMD EPYC VPS / Root Server: Virtual private servers on AMD EPYC processors with full root access, offered at tiered pricing from €4.99/month to €89.99/month. Revenue generated through prepaid subscriptions billed per billing cycle.
- AMD Ryzen VPS / Root Server: Virtual private servers on AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors optimized for gaming, streaming, and development. Tiered pricing from €9.99/month to €72.99/month with full root access. Prepaid subscription model.
- TeamSpeak Server Hosting: Prepaid TeamSpeak voice server hosting from €0.20. Revenue generated per prepaid term. Note: TeamSpeak 6 hosting is not yet available as the company awaits a provider license from TeamSpeak.
- Domain Registration: Domain name registration and management services at €4.25 per domain. Acts as an intermediary between the customer and registration authorities (e.g., DENIC).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Game Server — starting price |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | AMD EPYC VPS — entry level |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | AMD EPYC VPS — high-end |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | AMD Ryzen VPS — entry level |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | AMD Ryzen VPS — most popular |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | AMD Ryzen VPS — high-end |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | TeamSpeak Server |
| Unit Pricing | Annual | Domain Registration |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
LinkWays UG product offering
Product offeringCore offering
LinkWays UG operates as EmeraldHost, a German prepaid hosting provider offering game server hosting for 100+ titles, AMD EPYC and AMD Ryzen virtual private servers (VPS), TeamSpeak voice servers, and domain registration. All services are provisioned within 60 seconds and hosted in the maincubes Frankfurt data center with 750 Gbps DDoS protection, targeting individual gamers, hobbyist developers, and small communities in the DACH region and broader European market.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Game Server Hosting Prepaid dedicated game server hosting for over 100 game titles, providing instant activation within 60 seconds. Servers include DDoS protection, support for popular games like Minecraft, Palworld, Enshrouded, Rust, Valheim, ARK, Counter-Strike 2, and many more. Customers receive access credentials immediately through the web interface, with prepaid billing cycles from 10 to 720 days and runtime discounts of up to 20% for longer commitments.
- AMD EPYC VPS Virtual private servers powered by AMD EPYC 7443/7543P processors with full root access, 1024 GB ECC DDR4 3200MHz RAM, and 2x 3.84 TB Samsung PM9A3 Datacenter NVMe SSD storage per host. Tiered pricing from €4.99/month to €89.99/month, with multiple OS options including Debian, Ubuntu, Windows Server, Fedora, CentOS, RockyLinux, and AlmaLinux, plus guaranteed bandwidth up to 250 MBit/s.
- AMD Ryzen VPS Virtual private servers powered by AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors optimized for gaming, streaming, and development workloads. Features DDR5 RAM, NVMe SSD storage, and full root access. Tiered pricing from €9.99/month to €72.99/month, with up to 250 MBit/s bandwidth, 3 backups included, and Windows available on most tiers.
- TeamSpeak Server Hosting
- Domain Registration
Quantifiable outcome
- All products activated within 60 seconds of purchase
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use LinkWays UG
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
LinkWays UG technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
LinkWays UG partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- maincubes (Data Center)coreEmeraldHost operates all its servers in the maincubes data center in Frankfurt am Main. The facility is TÜV Level 3 certified (DIN EN 50600), ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO 9001 certified, with guaranteed 100% availability through redundant power systems. The location near DE-CIX ensures optimal latency for EmeraldHost's European customer base. This is a foundational infrastructure partnership without which EmeraldHost's services could not operate.
- Arbor Networks (DDoS Protection)coreEmeraldHost uses Arbor Networks for DDoS protection across all products, filtering attacks at network/transport level (Layer 4) and application level (Layer 7). Custom filter rules are developed per product, and permanent mitigations continuously monitor all network traffic. Capacity of up to 750 Gbps.
- AMD (Processor Supplier)coreEmeraldHost exclusively uses AMD server processors — AMD EPYC (7443/7543P) for enterprise VPS workloads and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D for gaming/streaming-optimized VPS. Server hardware specifications prominently feature AMD branding as a key differentiator.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
LinkWays UG competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- 4Netplayers: German game server hosting company providing prepaid dedicated servers for multiplayer games, voice servers, and small VPS offerings — a regional direct peer competing for the same German-speaking gamer and hobbyist customer base.
- Zap-Hosting: German-headquartered game server and VPS hosting provider offering prepaid billing for 100+ game titles, virtual servers, TeamSpeak, and domains — virtually identical product mix and target customer to EmeraldHost, making it the closest direct competitor in the DACH market.
- Nitrado: Established game server hosting provider offering prepaid and subscription game server rental across many titles, plus VPS and Teamspeak hosting. Long-standing direct competitor to EmeraldHost in the European game server hosting segment.
- G-Portal: Major European game server hosting specialist offering dedicated and cloud game servers for AAA and indie titles, with strong DDoS protection. Directly competes with EmeraldHost on game server hosting for premium multiplayer titles and community-driven customers.
Broad incumbents
- Netcup: German VPS and root server provider offering competitively priced virtual servers with similar AMD-based hardware. Comparable to EmeraldHost's EPYC and Ryzen VPS lines for developers and small businesses in Germany and the EU.
- Contabo: European budget VPS and dedicated server provider with German operations. Competes with EmeraldHost's VPS offerings on price-performance, particularly for hobbyist developers and small projects in the same DACH market.
- OVHcloud: Large European cloud and hosting provider with extensive data center footprint across the continent. Competes with EmeraldHost on VPS and dedicated server offerings, particularly for customers needing broader geographic coverage.
- IONOS: Major German hosting and cloud services provider (subsidiary of United Internet) offering VPS, dedicated servers, domains, and SMB-focused hosting solutions. Overlaps with EmeraldHost on VPS and domain products but at a broader SMB and enterprise level.
- Hetzner: Germany-based hosting incumbent offering VPS, dedicated servers, and cloud infrastructure at aggressive price points. EmeraldHost uses Hetzner as a web hosting dependency and competes with it for European VPS customers, though Hetzner does not specialize in game server hosting.
Emerging players
- Hostinger: Global hosting provider with strong VPS and shared hosting offerings targeting price-sensitive developers and SMBs. Overlaps with EmeraldHost on entry-level VPS and domain registration for similar customer personas.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
LinkWays UG social profiles
Digital presenceLinkWays UG financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
LinkWays UG leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
LinkWays UG funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
LinkWays UG 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 LinkWays UG
What does LinkWays UG do?
LinkWays UG operates as EmeraldHost, a German prepaid hosting provider offering game server hosting for 100+ titles, AMD EPYC and AMD Ryzen virtual private servers (VPS), TeamSpeak voice servers, and domain registration. All services are provisioned within 60 seconds and hosted in the maincubes Frankfurt data center with 750 Gbps DDoS protection, targeting individual gamers, hobbyist developers, and small communities in the DACH region and broader European market.
Is LinkWays UG a public or private company?
LinkWays UG is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was LinkWays UG founded?
LinkWays UG was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is LinkWays UG based?
LinkWays UG is headquartered in Koblenz, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does LinkWays UG make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Game Server Hosting is the primary driver. The others are AMD EPYC VPS / Root Server, AMD Ryzen VPS / Root Server, teamSpeak Server Hosting and domain Registration.
Who are LinkWays UG's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are 4Netplayers, Zap-Hosting, Nitrado and G-Portal. Broad incumbents are Netcup, Contabo, OVHcloud, IONOS and Hetzner. Hostinger is listed as an emerging player.
Does LinkWays UG have an API?
No public API is recorded for LinkWays UG.
What industry is LinkWays UG in?
LinkWays UG's product category is Game Server Hosting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAIAF, Game Server Hosting & Community Infrastructure (private servers, matchmaking communities). Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 7370.