Linq, the private sharing platform on a mission to end revenge porn and “sextortion” scams, has raised $1.1m in a pre-seed funding round.
According to figures recently obtained by domestic abuse charity Shelter, the number of intimate image offences in the UK has risen in recent years, with more than 13k incidents recorded between 2019 and 2022.
Founded in 2024, London-based Linq has built an app designed to give users control over their intimate images. It uses cutting-edge AI usually deployed to prevent media piracy to let users grant and revoke others’ access to their intimate content. When someone has been given access to an image, they can't screenshot it or take a photo of it.
The app also uses facial recognition technology to prevent someone other than the intended recipient seeing the image, which immediately turns blurry if the front-facing camera detects anyone else looking.
“The reality is people are sending nudes, despite the risks, because it’s a normal part of online intimacy — but they’re doing it without any protection,” says cofounder and CEO Toby Bradshaw.
“I think the taboo around this subject has prevented anyone from successfully executing something similar. It’s taken different organisations and media influencers to shift public perception of nude-sending,” he says.
Backers include VC firms such as Form Ventures, Calm/Storm and Ascension. Bradshaw adds: “We expected to run into a little more pushback from investors.”
As part of the launch, Linq conducted a survey of 1,017 adults in the UK and US who had either sent or received intimate images in the past. The survey found almost half (49%) had been shown intimate images of others without that person's permission. A further 37% admitted they could not be sure who had access to their images.
“It’s understandable that social platforms haven’t built the tools to share this content securely. They don’t want to be pigeonholed as the platform for intimate content,” says Patrick Newton, founding partner at Form Ventures.
“But that leaves people that want to share intimate images without a solution, and at risk of fraud or exploitation [...] Linq solves a huge problem for a rapidly growing group of people wanting to share intimate content safely.”
Having run a series of pre-launch events on university campuses across the UK, Linq will launch in April with more than 5,000 people already on its waitlist.
The company tells Sifted it will roll out the app globally over the next three years, with a view to raising a seed round over the summer.
