The pitch
Linq raised $20M Series A led by TQ Ventures to build APIs for native messaging in iMessage, RCS, and SMS. The Birmingham, Alabama startup lets AI assistants integrate with features like group chats, emojis, and voice notes - appearing as blue bubbles rather than gray business messages.
Founded by ex-Shipt executives Elliott Potter (CEO), Patrick Sullivan (CTO), and Jared Mattsson (President), Linq started as a digital business card before pivoting to B2B sales tooling. Demand from AI firms like poke.com pushed them toward messaging infrastructure.
The traction
Linq's February 2025 API launch (built over four years) doubled ARR in eight months. The platform has delivered 100M+ messages. Enterprise customers integrate with CRM systems to boost response rates - a metric that matters more than bubble color.
The company positions as a "hub" for programmatic messaging rather than a feature layer on SMS providers like Twilio, which built an $18.26B business on text-based customer communications.
What this means in practice
For technical leaders evaluating messaging infrastructure: Linq competes with Apple's Messages for Business and Twilio's SMS/WhatsApp APIs. The trade-off is platform lock-in (iMessage/RCS-specific) versus perceived authenticity (blue bubbles look personal, not automated).
Three things to watch:
Implementation complexity: Native messaging requires carrier relationships and Apple compliance. Twilio's WhatsApp API remains simpler for multi-channel deployments.
Market timing: AI tooling budgets are projected to double in 2026, with firms allocating 1-8% of revenue to productivity tools. Linq's bet is that messaging infrastructure captures a slice of that spend.
Real customer value: Gray bubbles haven't stopped billions of business texts. Whether blue bubbles improve engagement metrics or just vendor preferences remains unproven at scale.
Notably, a separate Boston/Seoul-based Linq raised $6.6M in 2024 for AI financial research - different company, confusing name collision.
The funding gives Linq runway to prove whether native messaging is infrastructure worth paying for or aesthetic preference dressed as technical advantage. We'll see.