Bitly

About Spectrum Equity

Spectrum Equity is a US-based growth equity firm, founded in 1994, with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and London. For over 30 years, it has partnered with category-leading software, data, and consumer internet companies—investing between $30M–$200M per transaction—to foster scalable, recurring-revenue businesses. Spectrum Equity provides growth capital, strategic guidance, and operational support to mid‑stage technology and internet companies; its portfolio includes Bitly, Ancestry, SurveyMonkey, Lynda.com, and GoodRx.

About this recipe

Bitly offers a comprehensive link management platform with customizable shortened URLs, branded domains, QR code generation, trackable landing pages, bulk link creation, and campaign analytics, all integrated via an easy-to-use dashboard and developer-friendly API.

The company was founded in 2008 as a URL shortening tool to simplify link sharing online, especially on platforms like Twitter, which briefly adopted it as the default link shortener. Initially backed by early investments, Bitly quickly gained traction for its ease of use and real-time analytics, expanding into branded short links and QR code generation.

As the market matured, Bitly pivoted toward enterprise solutions, offering advanced link management, deep analytics, and integrations with marketing platforms. By 2017, it was profitable and acquired by Spectrum Equity, marking its transition from a startup utility to a global SaaS company serving marketers and enterprises.