Linktree gobbles up and kills off competitor Koji

Australia link-in-bio platform Linktree has acquired two-year-old competitor Koji from its parent company GoMeta for an undisclosed figure.

In the tortured syntax beloved of tech titans. Linktree said in a blog post that Koji’s link-in-bio product “will be sunset” on January 31.

We take that to mean shut down rather than a glowing golden light to admire late in the day, but perhaps it may be set ablaze somewhere on the horizon.

Koji users will be offered three months of free Linktree Pro and was used by around 700,000 creators. Linktree did not offer any details on whether any employees will be joining its company. Koji has around 70 staff according to LinkedIn. 

Linktree acknowledged that since it launched in March 2021, Koji had quickly become “one of the leading link-in-bio offerings”.

GoMeta, founded by Dmitry Shapiro and Sean Thielen in 2016, and Koji raised US$36 million through its parent entity.  Earlier this year, Koji launched an e-book app for users sell e-books and audiobooks.

Linktree’s short statement did not outline its plans for the business beyond the “will-be-sunset”-ing of its link-in-bio, but the brand has more than 400 mini apps for revenue and engagement in its app store.

It’s the second time Linktree has acquired a rival this year, having snapped up Sequoia-backed European link-in-bio startup Bento, at the same time it cut 27% of its ANZ workforce. The cost of that deal was also undisclosed. Bento cofounders Sélim Benayat and Mugeeb Hassan joined Linktree.

Since then the company has added 5 million users to its platform to hit 40 million.