Melbourne’s Linktree makes CNBC’s 100 startups to watch

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Melbourne-based social media venture Linktree is the only Australian startup to make the cut in US business site CNBC’s list of the world’s most promising startups.

The annual list by CNBC looks for the top 100 venture-backed startups globally with the potential to transform industries and become tomorrow’s household names. The 2019 Upstart 100 list was chosen from more than 600 nominees and based on eight metrics detailed here.

A quarter of the top 100 are led by women, and 40, including Linktree, are less than three years old. All were founded in the past five years, 11 in the last year.

Linktree has bootstrapped from the start and the 100 on the CBNC ones to watch list have raised no more than US$50 million in venture capital.

“The Upstart 100 companies present a broader picture of where venture capitalists are placing their bets in the more distant future,” CNBC said.

“The companies that made this year’s Upstart 100 list represent nearly every sector of the economy, from enterprise software and finance to insurance, health care and retail. They come from 10 different countries. ”

Linktree is a free tool to optimise internet presence for a celebrity, company or blogger, curating content across social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitch, sending viewers to other sites, or an e-commerce store.

Linktree is now regarded as one of Australia’s fastest growing startups, gaining three million users globally in just 3 years. More than 90% of users are international, with an average 10,000 people signing up daily.

Its most recently high-profile clients include US Senator and 2020 Presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, model turned comedian Chrissy Teigen, author and entrepreneur, Lewis Howes, and the United Nations Foundation.

Linktree has a 88% market share in the category it pioneered.

Co-Founder Alex Zaccaria said it was excited to be included at a time when the company was “only just getting started”.

“When we created Linktree three years ago, we were solving a problem we’d come across on social media and thought was unique to us,” he said.

“We could never have imagined the scale of growth we would achieve – or that over 3 million people around the world would have the same problem.

“We are thrilled to be included – and representing Australia – in the CNBC Upstart 100. Quite simply, our end goal is to simplify the internet and to make it easier for side-hustlers, creators and entrepreneurs to share more, sell more, curate more and grow more.”