LinkSmart offers publishers tools to grow audiences by analyzing and inserting in-text links to drive engagement and internal clicks. Its technology has three main components: analytics to identify pages that need links and strong link targets, management tools to redirect and control links, and an option to automatically add links to articles. The company was founded by former DailyCandy CEO Pete Sheinbaum and launched less than a year prior to this raise. LinkSmart has 18 employees with its tech team based in Boulder, Colo., and plans to expand headcount in major publishing hubs. It intends to hire sales and support staff in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. Financially, LinkSmart announced a $5 million Series B to support that growth. LinkSmart builds tools to help publishers manage and optimize the text links in their content. Its product is divided into three services: analytics to measure existing link performance, management tools to automatically redirect links (including archive-wide updates for campaigns), and automated insertion of new links based on site-specific data about optimal link-to-text ratios. The company positions its offering to serve audience development managers and yield optimizers, while leaving content creation to writers. LinkSmart emphasizes directing readers to editorial content rather than focusing on advertising or affiliate links, differentiating itself from companies like Vibrant Media and VigLink. The product has been in testing for nearly two years, and the company has raised $4.7M across two rounds from Foundry Group, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Costanoa Venture Capital. Pete Sheinbaum, the founder and CEO and former DailyCandy CEO, leads the company as it expands its link-management tools to publishers.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

May 2013