Linktree smashes five million user milestone, and enjoys 250% revenue growth to boot

Aussie social media startup Linktree has hit the milestone of five million users, almost doubling its customer base in a mere nine months.

Co-founded by brothers Alex and Anthony Zaccaria and their friend Nick Humphreys, Linktree allows users to pop one link in their social media bio to direct friends and fans to multiple pages.

The co-founders originally created the tool as a work-around to use in their digital music and entertainment agency. They shared it among their clients, and word quickly got out.

Now, the Aussie founders count the likes of Alicia Keys, Selena Gomez, Gary Vee, Elizabeth Warren and even Greenpeace as clients.

And revenue growth is on a similar trajectory.

Alex Zaccaria tells SmartCompany revenue is up about 250% on last year.

But, the team isn’t resting on its laurels, he says. There’s plenty more growing to do.

“We’re growing with over 20,000 signups a day at the moment,” Zaccaria says.

“Our growth rate has accelerated more and more each month, so we’re looking to be far beyond this number pretty soon.”

Growth on growth on growth

In the current economic climate, you don’t hear growth stories this impressive every day. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the ensuing shutdowns and social distancing orders, are causing headaches for entrepreneurs all over the world.

Zaccaria says he feels “extremely fortunate” to be in the position he is with Linktree.

The growth has allowed the startup to go on a hiring spree, and to scale the service, in a bid to help other business owners get through this tough period.

Over the past six weeks, during which lockdown restrictions were implemented in the US and all over the world, Linktree has recorded a 70% increase in the number of users signing up daily.

“Our daily numbers were increasing month-on-month and week-on-week even prior to that,” the co-founder notes.

“But we definitely saw quite a big acceleration through this period.”

According to Zaccaria, brands, businesses, content creators and influencers are all looking for better ways to engage their audiences online.

He’s noticed a number of sign-ups from businesses in the education, health and wellbeing sectors. At the same time, businesses that traditionally rely on events and in-person marketing are turning to social media.

Sports clubs, for example, usually drive engagement through promoting attendance at games, he explains.

“Now, they need to make sure their engaging audiences online … to maintain that membership base.”

Many businesses that are not used to operating online are finding themselves with no other choice. And they’re hungry for the tools to help them.

“We’re really proud to be able to enable that engagement, and to enable users to continue getting these outcomes and continue to improve their revenue streams,” Zaccaria says.

Of course, at the same time, we’ve also seen a predictable uptick in social media usage.

People have a lot of time at home, and a lot of screens around. And, for those who don’t usually use social media, it can offer connection to friends and loved ones.

“Businesses are seeing the need to really engage with their audiences across all their socials and wherever their audiences live online,” Zaccaria says.

What happens post-pandemic?

We keep hearing (and we sure hope) that COVID-19 is a once-in-a-generation event, For many of the businesses that are seeing demand skyrocket at this time, that raises questions about whether said growth is sustainable post-pandemic.

Zaccaria isn’t worried. By its very nature, he says, Linktree is a shareable product.

“It’s a tool that is self-referring,” he explains.

“The more people that see it, the more users are using it.”

And the number of users isn’t the only metric that matters.

“Engagement is through the roof, retention is through the roof,” he adds.

Businesses are recognising that tools such as Linktree can support new revenue streams, Zaccaria suggests.

“I think businesses will continue these kinds of revenue streams post-crisis as well.”

But, that doesn’t mean Zaccaria and his co-founders are going to sit back and let growth happen.

They’re working on “the next wave of maturity” for Linktree.

He doesn’t share specific details, but he says the startup is looking into “other verticals and categories” to support businesses that continue to follow and online growth path even after BAU is restored.

“We’ve definitely got our eyes set on it,” he says.

“We’re doing everything we need to do to make sure that growth continues.”

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