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Innovative Melbourne-based linking platform Linktree has raised US$45 million ($59.2 million) in a second round of funding co-led by a company that took a chance on TikTok.
The capital injection follows a US$10.7 million ($14 million) raising announced in October last year, which brought on board Sydney's AirTree Ventures and US-based Insight Partners as investors.
The latest round was co-led by Index Ventures and Coatue, a relatively early investor in TikTok.
In a major coup for Linktree, Coatue chairman Dan Rose will join its board, bringing his 20 years of experience from Facebook and Amazon to the Australian company.
Linktree has more than 12 million users globally, four million of whom signed up in the last three months.
The platform enables brands, artists, publishers, agencies, creators and small businesses to curate an online ecosystem, instantly guiding their audience to the destinations that they care about, without using a search engine or website as a starting point.
"There's been a sea change when it comes to how we interact with the brands and creators we love," says Linktree co-founder Alex Zaccaria.
"There's no longer a need for brand-immersive websites or big campaigns to make a memorable impression or drive engagement."
Rose, the chairman of Coatue Management, describes Linktree as a simple platform for anyone to manage their online identity through links.
"They proved the utility of this solution via link-in-bio, and now we're seeing an exciting expansion of use cases and creativity," he says.
"Linktree's platform is both simple and powerful, a modern solution to an age-old problem."
In addition to product development, Linktree plans to use the funds to safely open multi-location creator hubs that will double as workplaces for its rapidly expanding remote teams, starting in Los Angeles.
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