Linq

Linq is a communications API company based in Birmingham, Alabama, that lets businesses and AI agents reach users through iMessage, RCS, SMS and voice. Founded by three former Shipt employees, it began with digital business cards, shifted to messaging infrastructure in 2025, raised a $20 million Series A in February 2026, and relays messages for OpenAI OpenAIOpenAI is an artificial intelligence research and product organization founded in 2015 that develops the GPT model series, ChatGPT, Codex and a developer API, and conducts research on image, speech, video and intelligent agents. After its 2025 restructuring, the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation continues to control the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC. Its growth has involved large-scale fundraising and compute partnerships, and has also been accompanied by controversies over governance, copyright, privacy and AI safety.Open the full entry’s Dot texting feature.

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Key facts

2019–2021From Shipt Team to Digital Business Cards

Elliott Potter, Jared Mattsson and Patrick Sullivan developed Linq’s product in 2019 while working at Shipt, after an earlier product, Sidekiq, that helped small businesses gain Instagram followers. Linq began as a digital business card platform: users shared information by tapping a phone or scanning a QR code, without an app. By October 2021 it had a downtown Birmingham headquarters and 13 full-time employees.⁠[1]

May 27, 2021$2.5 Million Seed Round

Linq announced a $2.5 million seed round led by Mucker Capital Mucker CapitalMucker Capital is an American early-stage venture capital firm that invests specifically in startups outside Silicon Valley and runs the MuckerLab accelerator; it has invested in companies including Honey, ServiceTitan, AuditBoard, and Everipedia.Open the full entry, with the Alabama Futures Fund and Shipt founder Bill Smith participating; its products included electronic business cards and wearables such as bracelets. Potter said, “The pandemic accelerated demand for smart, contactless engagement capabilities like ours.”⁠[2]

2025Shift to iMessage and RCS Messaging APIs

After several pivots from digital business cards, Linq settled in 2025 on helping businesses move customer messaging from SMS to iMessage and RCS, launching an iMessage API that February. In September 2025 the iMessage-based AI assistant Poke went viral; Poke wanted to use Linq’s API, and many AI companies followed.⁠[3]

February 2, 2026$20 Million Series A

Linq announced a $20 million Series A led by TQ Ventures, with Mucker Capital and angel investors participating. It said it then had more than 100 customers, who together sent over 30 million messages a month.⁠[4]

October 28, 2026Relaying Texts for OpenAI’s Dot

When OpenAI introduced texting for Dot, it partnered with Linq to connect to telecom networks; Linq sits between the user and OpenAI, relaying and processing messages before they reach OpenAI’s servers. OpenAI acknowledged in its technical documentation that this routing rules out end-to-end encryption even over iMessage or RCS, and said it had conducted “extensive penetration testing.”⁠[5]

Business: Communications API Platform

Linq describes itself as a communications platform as a service (CPaaS) for iMessage, RCS, SMS and voice, with its iMessage API as the main product, a free sandbox, and flat monthly pricing rather than per-message fees.⁠[6]

Its product page says more than 1,000 teams use the service, that it has processed over 850 million messages, that it supports group chats, reactions and read receipts, and that it is SOC 2 Type II compliant.⁠[7]