Name

Links

Legal name

有限会社リンクス

Website

https://links.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Links Co., Ltd. is a Tokyo-based private Japanese company offering a royalty-free stock photo marketplace (stock.foto, 150M+ images from ¥198), free photo material platforms (.foto project), and professional graphic design and web production services for advertising, publishing, and digital content clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Stock Photography & Digital Content

NAICS

Commercial Photography (541922), Graphic Design Services (54143)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Photography & Photo Production (BPAFAIAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Graphic Design & Visual Content Production (BPAFAIAC), Photography & Still Production (Stills, Product, Lifestyle) (MPAAAMAI)

Keywords

• Stock photography
• Graphic design services
• Royalty-free images
• Web production services
• Photo material platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Stock Photo Sales: Revenue from selling stock photos through stock.foto service. Users purchase individual images or credits to download photos from a library of 150+ million images. Pricing starts at 198 yen (tax excluded) per image/unit.
2. Free Content Platforms (Lead Generation): Free photo material websites (pro.foto, model.foto, food.foto, cg.foto, blog.foto) drive traffic and brand awareness. These platforms do not directly generate revenue but support the overall business ecosystem and customer acquisition.
3. Graphic Design Services: Custom advertising design services including planning, production, and coordination of graphic design, copywriting, photography, and styling for newspapers, posters, catalogs, and promotional materials.
4. Web Production Services: Website design, development, and digital content production services including usability/ accessibility-focused web design, system development (ASP, PHP, Perl, JAVA, etc.), internet advertising proposals, and access log analysis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Links Co., Ltd. operates the .foto project, a multi-site stock photo distribution network comprising five free specialized photo material websites (pro.foto, model.foto, food.foto, CG.foto, blog.foto) and a paid royalty-free stock photo marketplace (stock.foto) with over 150 million images available from ¥198. The company also provides graphic design and advertising production services plus web design and development for advertising, publishing, and digital content customers.

Product overview

Links Co.,Ltd. operates a multi-service portfolio organized around three core business segments: (1) Graphic Design Services — providing advertising design, publication planning/production, copywriting, photography, and styling for newspapers, posters, catalogs, and direct mail; (2) The .foto project sub-brand — a suite of six free and paid stock photo platforms including pro.foto (professional photographer photos), model.foto (female model photos), food.foto (food/drink photography), CG.foto (CG imagery), blog.foto (blog-ready photos), and stock.foto (a royalty-free marketplace with over 150 million images available from ¥198); and (3) Web Production — offering website design, development (ASP, PHP, Perl, Java, C/C++, SQL), digital content creation, and internet advertising/marketing services. The company also provides commercial photography services for products and portraits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• .foto project: A free photo material download service offering professional camera photographs, female model portrait photos, food photography, CG imagery, and blog-use photo materials.
• stock.foto
• pro.foto
• model.foto
• food.foto
• CG.foto
• blog.foto

Products and services

• stock.foto Royalty-free stock photography marketplace offering over 150 million high-quality images including photos, illustrations, and vectors starting from ¥198 (tax excluded). Designed for advertising materials, web content, and TV/CM production with worldwide digital delivery.
• pro.foto Free platform offering high-resolution photographs shot by professional photographers active in magazine, publishing, and advertising industries. All images are royalty-free for commercial use.
• model.foto Free platform offering high-resolution female model photography shot by professional photographers, with all materials covered by model release (portrait rights consent), enabling commercial use without portrait rights concerns.
• food.foto Free platform offering high-resolution food photography including vegetables, fruits, prepared dishes, beverages, tableware, and desserts. All photos shot by professional photographers for commercial use.
• CG.foto Free platform offering high-quality CG images created by professional graphic designers active in the advertising industry, freely downloadable for commercial design, publications, websites, and TV/CM production.
• blog.foto Free platform providing professional photographer and CG designer materials for blog and news articles. Users can easily adjust image size and embed tags to add high-quality photos to blogs.
• Graphic Design Services Comprehensive advertising design services including newspapers, posters, catalogs, direct mail, POP materials, and store decorations. Encompasses planning, design, copywriting, photography, and styling, assembled into project teams tailored to each assignment.
• Web Production Full-service web design and development covering user experience/accessibility-focused design, Flash animation, system development (ASP, PHP, Perl, Java, JavaScript, C, C++, SQL), internet advertising proposals, access log analysis, and campaign response management.
• Photography Services Commercial photography services for product photography and portrait photography for advertising purposes.

Quantifiable outcome

• World's largest class stock photo service with 150+ million images
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Depositphotos: Subscription and on-demand stock photo marketplace with comparable SMB/individual buyer focus and similar transaction pricing mechanics to stock.foto.
• 123RF: Royalty-free stock photo marketplace serving SMBs and individual buyers with credit-based pricing similar to stock.foto's model. Overlaps in target customer and transactional pricing structure.
• PIXTA: Leading Japan-focused stock photo and video platform with similar SMB and creative professional target customers as Links. The closest direct domestic competitor with comparable vertical coverage and Japanese-language orientation.
• Getty Images / iStock: Global stock photography leader combining premium editorial (Getty) and royalty-free (iStock) offerings. Competes directly with stock.foto across the same commercial licensing use cases.
• Shutterstock: One of the world's largest stock photo and video marketplaces. Directly competes with stock.foto in royalty-free imagery for commercial use, though at vastly greater scale and with global enterprise reach.
• Adobe Stock: Stock image marketplace integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud. Directly competes with stock.foto and benefits from bundling into the dominant creative professional workflow.

Broad incumbents

• Canva: Design platform with integrated stock photo library and AI generation tools. Overlaps with Links' graphic design and stock offerings, and increasingly bundles visual content creation in a single subscription.

Emerging players

• Unsplash: Free high-quality stock photo platform that has become the de facto standard for editorial and personal use. Indirectly competes with stock.foto by training users to expect free imagery and compressing paid demand.
• Pexels: Free stock photo and video platform with similar SEO-driven traffic model to Links' free sites. Competes for the same top-of-funnel search traffic and has shifted user expectations toward free content.

Regional players

• Syuppin (PIXTA parent): Japan-based parent company of PIXTA, the closest direct competitor to stock.foto in the Japanese market. Operates a vertically integrated photography, retail, and stock content platform.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Links