Digital business card startup bags $38.5 million Series A

A Melbourne-founded startup that taken the old business card and turned it into a digital networking tool has raised US$25 million (A$38.5m) in a Series A.

The round for Blinq was led by Touring Capital, with supported by HubSpot Ventures and existing local backers Blackbird and Square Peg.

The startup, founded in 2017, previously raised a $5 million Seed round in 2022. Founder Jarrod Webb, previously worked at Uber Eats, leaving in 2021 to focus on his startup. Webb was inspired by his own frustration with piles of outdated business cards during his time as an early operator at Uber Eats.

“People talk a lot about managing relationships – but most of them fall through right at the start. That’s the moment we obsess over at Blinq,” Webb said.

Blinq replaces traditional business cards with a digital alternative, allowing people to share contact information via QR codes, NFC taps, links, and email signatures. It also integrates with CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce.

Users can also create multiple cards for different contexts from work to personal and a side hustle.

The company offers a freemium model for individual users and a paid subscription service for businesses.

Webb says Blinq now has 2.5 million users across 500,000 companies in 189 countries and expects to see 50 million card shares this year. The US accounts for 80% of the customer base.

Touring Capital’s Priya Saiprasad, previously a partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, will join Blinq’s board.

“Blinq is positioning itself at the very top of the professional relationship funnel,” Saiprasad said.

“It’s building the system of record for in-person networking and doing it with a product that’s delightfully simple, beautifully designed, and already proven to scale.”

Blackbird ‘s Rick Baker said they continue to be impressed with the founder’s strong product instinct, and his team’s ability to build a viral product.

“It’s been great to watch the product develop, starting as a consumer product and now maturing into one now being used and bought by large enterprises,” he said. 

Blinq began in Melbourne, and now has a team of around 80 people with offices in Sydney, San Francisco, and New York.