Celebrating 25 Years of Innovation: The LINK Mobility Journey
It all began on July 7, 2000, with Ememess AS - a Norwegian tech consultancy founded by serial entrepreneur Jens Rugseth. Known for its senior expertise and close client collaboration, Ememess quickly earned a reputation for combining strategic insight with technological excellence. This laid the foundation for what would become LINK Mobility.
Fast forward to today: LINK Mobility is a leading European mobile communications provider, with over 700 employees across 30 offices in 18 countries. In 2024 alone, LINK powered the delivery of more than 19 billion SMS messages.
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary on July 7, 2025, we reflect on a journey defined by bold innovation, strategic growth, and a relentless drive to connect people and businesses.
2000 - 2007: From Ememess to LINK Mobility
Ememess played a pioneering role in the early days of mobile communication, offering consulting, system development, and mobile content services. In 2004, a merger with Zapdance AS expanded its capabilities in SMS, MMS, and email services.
A pivotal moment came in 2007 with the acquisition of LINK Messaging AB (formerly Telenor LINK AB), bringing a robust messaging platform and a strong Swedish market presence. This marked the transition from consultancy to mobile communications provider - and the birth of the LINK Mobility brand.
2008 - 2016: Strategic Growth and Going Public
Following its rebranding, LINK Mobility accelerated its expansion through a series of strategic acquisitions across the Nordics.
Key milestones included:
- 2011
Acquisitions of Aspire Mobile Solutions in Norway, Sweden, and Latvia, adding mobile payments to the portfolio.
- 2013
LINK Mobility Group Holding ASA was established and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
- 2014–2016
A wave of acquisitions across the Nordics and the first non-Nordic expansion into Germany with the acquisition of Whatever Mobile Group.
2017 - 2019: European Expansion and Private Equity Backing
LINK’s European footprint grew rapidly with acquisitions in France, Poland, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and the UK. In 2018, LINK was acquired by U.S.-based private equity firm Abry Partners, known for scaling high-growth companies. This partnership fueled further expansion, including the acquisition of Netsize in France and the TeraComm Group in Bulgaria.
2020 - 2021: Back on the Stock Exchange and a New Identity
In October 2020, LINK returned to the Oslo Stock Exchange, with Abry Partners as a major shareholder. In 2021, LINK strengthened its presence in the DACH region by acquiring WebSMS and SimpleSMS in Austria, forming LINK Mobility Austria GmbH. WebSMS continues as an online brand within this structure, while the combined entity serves around 6,200 business customers across Austria's DACH region, dispatching nearly one billion SMS and WhatsApp messages annually. Today LINK Mobility Austria is fully integrated into the LINK Mobility Group, leveraging local heritage and technical platforms to deliver CPaaS solutions tailored to both SMEs and enterprise clients.
During this period, LINK officially rebranded as a CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) provider - offering cloud-based messaging services that seamlessly integrate into business applications.
2021 - 2023: Going Global and Expanding Capabilities
In 2021, LINK fully embraced the CPaaS model, acquiring Dutch telecom provider Tismi, and Danish MarTech leader MarketingPlatform, which added a powerful omnichannel marketing and customer data platform to LINK’s suite. Today MarketingPlatform is LINK Mobility’s advanced marketing automation solution, designed to simplify and personalize customer communication. With powerful tools for email, SMS, and omnichannel messaging, it enables businesses to automate campaigns, engage audiences, and drive measurable results across the entire customer journey.
That same year, LINK became the leading CPaaS provider in Italy through the acquisition of AMM S.p.A., and took a major step toward global expansion by acquiring Soprano Design (Australia) and Message Broadcast (USA), extending its footprint across Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and North America.
To further enhance its AI capabilities, LINK acquired Matelab Srl (Xenioo), an Italian NLP/chatbot company. As of 2025, Xenioo powers LINK’s chatbot product, MyLINK Connect.
2022 - 2023: Omnichannel Innovation and Customer Value
LINK continued to lead in omnichannel communication, emphasizing the importance of delivering the right message, in the right channel, at the right time. A key focus was RCS (Rich Communication Services) - the next generation of SMS - offering interactive, media-rich messaging directly within Android’s native messaging app.
Security and trust also took center stage with the launch of SenderID Protection, designed to combat SMS fraud and impersonation. Meanwhile, LINK expanded its European presence through acquisitions of EZ4U (Portugal), Net Real Solutions (Spain), and Reach Interactive (UK).
2024 - 2025: A New Era of Messaging
In June 2024, Apple announced RCS support in iOS 18, signaling a major shift in mobile messaging. While Nordic operators were slow to adapt, LINK’s international presence - especially in Android-dominant Southern Europe - allowed it to test, learn, and prepare for the RCS future. In France, our RCS efforts have been a great success - with over 92 million RCS messages sent in 2024 and the launch of the RCS Business Club to further drive innovation and collaboration.
The RCS success was even more prominent when LINK Mobility, In January 2025, was awarded Best RCS Business Messaging Solution: Europe, recognizing its leadership in delivering rich, interactive messaging experiences.
April 2025 brought further UK expansion with the acquisitions of The SMS Works Ltd and FireText Communications, strengthening LINK’s position in one of Europe’s key markets. In June, LINK Mobility signed an agreement to acquire SMSPortal, the leading A2P messaging provider in South Africa. This acquisition marks LINK’s expansion into a new continent and represents a major step beyond its European footprint.
This milestone highlights LINK’s ongoing global growth and its commitment to driving innovation across new regions - enabling support for customers worldwide and paving the way for the next chapter in mobile communication.
Looking Ahead: 25 Years of Innovation and Beyond
As LINK Mobility celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, it stands as one of Europe’s leading CPaaS providers - with a global footprint, local expertise, and a proven track record of innovation.
As LINK Mobility celebrates 25 years, I am proud of how far we have come - from local beginnings to become a leading CPaaS provider in Europe. This milestone reflects the dedication of all LINKers, the trust of our customers, and the strong collaborations with our partners as we continue to innovate in mobile communications.
LINK Mobility has always been driven by a passion for innovation - working alongside our customers and partners to explore new possibilities, whether through RCS, other messaging channels, or tailored solutions and support. It’s the commitment that continues to position us as a trusted partner and CPaaS provider.
Over the past 25 years, LINK Mobility has evolved from a pioneer in SMS technology to one of Europe’s leading CPaaS providers. What truly defines our journey is not just innovation, but our steadfast commitment to supporting our customers every step of the way. We’ve built our solutions around real communication challenges, ensuring that businesses can connect with their audiences in meaningful and effective ways.
Whether it’s through early adoption of new channels like RCS or providing hands-on guidance and tailored support, we’re here to help our customers succeed. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how our technology empowers businesses daily - and even more so to know that we’re a trusted partner in their growth. We’re excited to keep pushing boundaries, always with our customers’ needs at the core of what we do.
From SMS to RCS, from consultancy to global CPaaS leader - LINK has always been ahead of the curve. And as a new era of messaging begins, LINK is ready to lead the way.
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