In a digital landscape flooded with AI-generated noise, face-to-face connection is commanding a premium. As online trust erodes, the "handshake economy" is roaring back: two-thirds of companies plan to host more events this year, up from 40% two years ago, and nearly three in four marketers call events their most effective channel.
But while the handshake has returned, the infrastructure supporting it remains stuck in the past. We meet, we exchange pleasantries, and then we lose the thread in a chaotic pile of paper cards and unorganised phone numbers.
Blinq, a Melbourne-born digital business card platform, has spent years building the solution to this "first-mile relationship" problem of in-person networking.
Having amassed 2.5 million users across 500,000 companies, the company recently closed a $25 million Series A led by Touring Capital, with Square Peg and Blackbird.
Blinq began as a side project in 2017, born from a specific technical unlock. Founder Jarrod Webb noticed that iOS 11 allowed users to scan QR codes directly from the native camera, eliminating the need for third-party scanning apps. A previously clunky process became instant. When Android followed suit in 2019 and the pandemic normalised QR code usage for everything from menus to check-ins, Blinq was well placed for viral adoption.
Jarrod Webb, Founder of Blinq
By 2021, that viral growth collided with enterprise demand. Companies weren't just asking for digital cards; they were demanding administrative control over titles, branding, and email signatures across thousands of employees.
Other upstarts noticed the traction. Competitors sprang up, ranging from VC-backed startups to apps with millions of TikTok followers, but Blinq has stayed ahead with a refusal to chase feature bloat. Instead, the company obsessed over nailing the core interaction: the fragile seconds when two people exchange details.
Whether it’s at a noisy conference or a quiet dinner, any friction in asking someone for the details can kill a potential relationship. Blinq prioritised backend speed and user experience above all else. The result is "Contact Scanner," an AI-driven tool that claims to be the fastest in the market and transferring details.
The company is now graduating from a utility app to what they call a "first-mile relationship platform." The thesis is simple: the exchange is just the start. The real value lies in the walk back to the office. That’s the moment when names blur, context fades, and even promising conversations quietly stall without a system to carry them forward.
Over the last six months, Blinq has shipped a wave of features designed to bridge the gap between meeting someone and actually doing business with them:
Contextual Memory: The new contacts experience acts as a personal CRM, allowing users to tag contacts and add voice notes immediately after a meeting. This context prevents the "who was this again?" problem weeks later.
Enterprise Hygiene: For businesses, the "data dump" problem is solved via admin-controlled tagging. Sales teams often return from events with messy data; Blinq allows admins to set official tags (e.g., "Lead - NY Tech Week") that reps apply instantly upon scanning.
Integration: Data syncs directly to company CRMs in a clean, structured state, removing the friction of manual entry.
Blinq’s bet is that as online authenticity becomes harder to verify, the value of in-person verification will skyrocket. By owning the handshake, they intend to own the entire pipeline that follows.