Connect with us

Technology

Blinq Raises $25M Series A to Reimagine the Start of Every Professional Relationship

Published

on

With over 2.5 million users across 500,000 companies in 189 countries, Blinq is scaling the platform that powers first impressions – and everything after. The new funding will support global expansion, particularly across North America and Europe, and accelerate Blinq’s roadmap to become the connective tissue modern relationships have been missing.

MELBOURNE, Australia, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Blinq, the digital business card platform helping professionals connect instantly and stay top of mind, today announced a $25 million Series A funding round led by Touring Capital, with participation from existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Square Peg Capital, and new investor HubSpot Ventures. The funding will accelerate Blinq’s global growth and power the next generation of tools for professionals kickstarting meaningful relationships.

Blinq started as a digital business card. Today, it leads the way in how over 2.5 million professionals share who they are, save valuable connections, and follow through – whether they’re meeting a new potential client, investor, or collaborator. Blinq is on track to surpass 50 million card shares in 2025. This viral growth makes Blinq one of the fastest-growing platforms servicing the first moment of connection between two people and the market leading digital business card solution globally.

Blinq captures the moment most platforms ignore: when two people meet for the first time. Instead of focusing on managing relationships after they’ve formed, Blinq zeroes in on the first few seconds – when attention is highest, intent is clear, and trust is still being formed.

“Blinq is positioning itself at the very top of the professional relationship funnel,” said Priya Saiprasad, co-founder and general partner at Touring Capital. “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.”

Blinq users create personalized digital business cards and share them instantly via QR code, email signature, NFC tap, short link, or video call background. Users can create multiple cards tailored to different contexts – work, side hustle and personal use – so they always show up the right way, in the right moment. Each interaction leads to a sleek profile – no app from the other person required – where contacts can connect, capture details automatically (like where and when you met), and sync into CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce.

“For 700 years, business cards have been paper, passive, and easily lost,” said Rick Baker, Partner at Blackbird Ventures. “It wasn’t until the pandemic normalized QR codes that this shift became possible. Blinq has seized the moment to bring this centuries-old ritual into the cloud, and in doing so, they’re transforming how professionals initiate relationships.”

This B2C virality has fueled serious B2B momentum: over 7,500 businesses now use Blinq to manage employee cards at scale, control how their brand shows up, onboard teams faster, and capture contact leads automatically. Blinq cards are already being used by employees at more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies.

“This round marks a pivotal step in Blinq’s journey to become the relationship layer for modern professionals,” said Jarrod Webb, CEO and Founder at Blinq. “We’re not just helping people connect – we’re helping them act on every relationship that starts. Blinq is becoming the infrastructure for how modern relationships begin and grow.”

Where CRMs and social platforms focus on existing contacts, Blinq is building the first system of record for real-world, first-time professional interactions – optimized for speed, context, and follow-through. In a world where your identity is fragmented across various platforms – and new connections are too easy to forget – Blinq gives you one place to show up well in that first interaction. It’s a dynamic identity layer that keeps contact details current and helps you manage every version of yourself in every first moment.

As the platform becomes increasingly embedded in business workflows, investors see an opportunity to expand how professionals initiate and manage relationships.

“We are excited about how Blinq transforms fleeting encounters into lasting and valuable professional relationships,” said Adam Coccari, Managing Director at HubSpot Ventures. “By capturing the context around a new connection and seamlessly integrating with existing tools like HubSpot, Blinq is building a relationship intelligence layer for millions of individuals and organizations around the world.”

About Blinq

Blinq helps professionals connect in a way that’s fast, memorable, and built for follow-through. Founded in Australia, Blinq is now the world’s top-rated and most popular digital business card platform, with over 2.5 million users across 500,000 companies and offices in Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco and New York. From individuals to global teams, Blinq makes it effortless to start – and scale – better professional relationships. Learn more at https://blinq.me.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blinq-raises-25m-series-a-to-reimagine-the-start-of-every-professional-relationship-302447871.html

SOURCE Blinq

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Hisense Celebrates Earth Day: The Quiet Green Shift Happening Inside Households Through Smarter Appliances

Published

on

By

DUBAI, UAE, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — There’s something futuristic about a refrigerator that thinks for itself. Not in a science-fiction, take-over-the-world kind of way, but in the everyday miracle of a 620-litre side-by-side unit deciding, on its own, that 3am is the perfect time to run its compressor at minimal power because nobody’s opening the door anyway.

This is the green revolution that nobody talks about at climate summits. While world leaders debate carbon credits and industrial emissions, a quieter transformation is unfolding in kitchens, utility rooms, and living spaces across the UAE and beyond. It happens every time a washing machine calculates the precise amount of water needed for that half-load of towels, or when an air conditioner’s inverter technology throttles down instead of cycling on and off like an energy-guzzling metronome.

Earth Day, falling on 22 April this year, typically conjures images of tree-planting ceremonies and beach clean-ups. Worthy endeavours, certainly. But the environmental impact of what sits in your home, running twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, rarely gets the attention it deserves.

On average, washing machines use 19 gallons of water per load, and the average household runs between 5 and 6 loads per week. Based on those figures, most washers use up to 5,605 gallons of water annually . Swap that for a modern front-load unit with AI wash programs, like Hisense’s models, and that figure can drop by up to 50 percent. Multiply this across the roughly 500,000 households in Dubai alone, and we’re suddenly talking about water savings that would make a desalination plant executive weep with joy.

The same logic applies to electricity consumption, a particularly pressing concern in a region where summer temperatures regularly exceed 45°C and air conditioning is a necessity. The difference between a conventional split AC unit and one equipped with inverter technology isn’t marginal, it’s substantial enough to show up on utility bills within the first month of operation.

Intelligence as an Environmental Strategy

What makes the current generation of home appliances genuinely different isn’t just improved efficiency ratings or eco-labelling. It’s the integration of AI into the very fabric of how these machines operate.

Hisense, a brand that has positioned itself at this intersection of technology and sustainability, describes its approach as a “dual-track strategy of intelligence plus green development.” Its ConnectLife ecosystem, available on select refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, and air conditioners, monitors energy consumption in real-time, learns household patterns, and makes AI-driven recommendations that, over time, compound into meaningful resource savings.

A Hisense 14-place setting dishwasher with auto-wash technology, for instance, doesn’t simply run the same cycle regardless of load. It assesses soil levels and adjusts water temperature and duration accordingly. A half-load mode means running appliances at appropriate capacity rather than wasting resources on unnecessary full cycles.

Multi-airflow cooling systems that reduce temperature fluctuation and preserve food longer. No-frost technology that eliminates the energy waste of ice buildup. Inverter compressors that modulate power consumption rather than running at full throttle constantly. These technologies have existed in various forms for years. What’s changed is their integration into accessible price points and mainstream product lines, making efficient living achievable for households beyond the ultra-premium market.

The Gulf region presents a fascinating case study for domestic sustainability. Per capita energy consumption ranks among the highest globally, driven by climate control requirements, water desalination dependencies, and historically subsidised utility costs. Yet the UAE has simultaneously positioned itself as a regional leader in renewable energy investment and sustainability commitments.

This creates a unique environment where smart appliance adoption carries amplified significance. A 1.5-ton inverter split AC running across a typical Abu Dhabi summer doesn’t just save its owner money, it reduces the load on an electrical grid increasingly powered by solar and nuclear generation. The connection between individual choices and collective outcomes becomes tangible in ways that might seem abstract in milder climates.

The rise of connected appliances adds another dimension. Remote diagnostics can extend product lifespans by identifying minor issues before they become terminal failures. Software updates can improve efficiency algorithms years after purchase. Energy monitoring creates accountability loops that encourage conscious consumption patterns.

Steam wash functions on modern washing machines reduce the need for hot-water cycles while improving allergen removal. Anti-bacterial filters in air conditioning units address both health and environmental concerns simultaneously. These convergences suggest that the old tension between convenience and conscience may be resolving itself through engineering rather than requiring consumers to choose sides.

The Household as Climate Actor

There’s something democratic about domestic sustainability. Industrial emissions reductions require policy negotiations, capital investments, and coordination across complex stakeholder ecosystems. Choosing a more efficient refrigerator requires a trip to the appliance store and perhaps a slightly higher upfront cost that will recoup itself over the product’s operational lifetime.

This isn’t to diminish the necessity of systemic change, individual action cannot substitute for structural transformation. But the two approaches complement rather than compete. Households equipped with intelligent appliances consume fewer resources, place less strain on infrastructure, and model consumption patterns that cascade through communities.

The quiet green shift happening inside households won’t make headlines the way renewable energy megaprojects or electric vehicle adoption rates do. But every time that dishwasher calculates optimal water usage, every time that inverter compressor modulates instead of cycles, every time that smart refrigerator adjusts its cooling schedule based on door-opening patterns, something meaningful happens. Millions of these moments, aggregated across millions of households, compound into impact that rivals any single infrastructure project.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2963033/Hisense_Earth_Day.jpg

 

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hisense-celebrates-earth-day-the-quiet-green-shift-happening-inside-households-through-smarter-appliances-302750078.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Dreame Nebula NEXT Auto expands academic collaboration to accelerate AI-driven automotive innovation

Published

on

By

UC Berkeley engagement underscores long-term investment in autonomous systems, engineering depth and intelligent vehicle development

BERKELEY, Calif., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Dreame Nebula NEXT Auto has deepened its engagement with leading academic institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, as it accelerates development of AI-defined vehicles and next-generation autonomous systems. The collaboration signals a long-term commitment to advancing core technologies that will shape the future of intelligent automotive motion.

The engagement brought Nebula NEXT engineers and leadership together with Berkeley researchers specialising in autonomous control systems, AI and intelligent transportation. The sessions focused on translating advanced research into real-world vehicle systems, with particular emphasis on safety, control and full-stack AI integration.

Jake Ma, Executive of Dreame Nebula NEXT Auto, said: “We aren’t building a car. We are building a new brain for the physical world. To us, the car is the only physical mothership capable of carrying the extreme compute required by large AI models today.”

The visit forms part of a broader strategy to anchor Nebula NEXT’s development in deep technical collaboration. By working closely with academic experts, the company is strengthening its approach to autonomous driving, vehicle intelligence and system-level engineering.

Nebula NEXT builds on Dreame Technology’s foundation in precision engineering and AI-driven innovation. This heritage underpins a shift from software-defined vehicles to AI-defined vehicles, where intelligence is embedded across the entire system, from perception and decision-making to chassis and powertrain control.

The company’s technical direction centres on integrating AI into the core dynamics of how vehicles operate. This includes continuous learning systems, multi-agent architectures and high-performance computing platforms designed to support real-time decision-making in complex driving environments.

Nebula NEXT first drew global attention at CES 2026 with the debut of the Nebula NEXT 01, a four-door electric hyper-sedan concept. The vehicle delivers 1.8-second acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h, more than 2,000 horsepower and a lightweight structure built from proprietary Blue Carbon Fiber.

Momentum continued with a high-profile appearance during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast, extending the brand’s reach across North America and reinforcing its position as an emerging force in automotive technology.

Alongside performance, the company continues to prioritise foundational innovation. Its architecture combines AI-native operating systems, zonal electrical design and high-density computing platforms to enable scalable, intelligent vehicle systems.

Nebula NEXT is now entering a phase focused on system execution, engineering depth and scalable technology development. The company will present further advances at an upcoming Silicon Valley event on 27 April 2026, where it will unveil new products and core technologies.

By combining global market momentum, academic collaboration and a focus on engineering fundamentals, Dreame Nebula NEXT is positioning itself at the centre of the transition to AI-defined mobility.

Media contact:
Li Tong, Dreame Nebula Next Auto PR head, litong2@dreame.tech
Website: https://www.dreametech.com

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2962967/Image_1.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2962968/Image_3.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2962966/Image_4.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dreame-nebula-next-auto-expands-academic-collaboration-to-accelerate-ai-driven-automotive-innovation-302750079.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Sucden Financial Enables Client Trading in Shanghai Nickel Futures

Published

on

By

LONDON, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sucden Financial, the multi-asset execution, clearing and liquidity provider, announces that clients can now trade nickel futures and options on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), following today’s opening of the contract to international participants.

Sucden Financial offers access to SHFE through its Overseas Intermediary status and established Chinese banking relationships. Clients can manage exposure across SHFE, the London Metal Exchange (LME) and more than 20 other global commodities markets through a single account.

In addition to SHFE nickel contracts, Sucden Financial’s clients can access the following Chinese exchanges: the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.

Lucy Wainman, Head of Sales (China) at Sucden Financial, said:

“We are pleased to offer clients the opportunity to trade Shanghai nickel futures and options contracts, further broadening our access to Chinese markets. This milestone reflects the hard work of our team and the long-standing relationships we have built in China. We would like to thank SHFE and Chinese regulators for their support and constructive engagement.”

Marc Bailey, CEO of Sucden Financial, said:

“Expanding our global exchange coverage to include access to onshore mainland Chinese markets supports our organic growth strategy. By adding access to SHFE, we provide clients with an extended global reach through a single account. Continued investment in technology underpins our long-term commitment to our clients, enabling them to respond quickly to changing market dynamics and capture emerging opportunities.”

About Sucden Financial

With a history and heritage in commodity futures and options trading, Sucden Financial has evolved and diversified to become a leading global multi-asset execution, clearing and liquidity provider across FX, fixed income, and commodities.

Sucden Financial has a proven track record of over 50 years in financial markets. Since its foundation in 1973, it has been supported by its parent, Sucden, one of the world’s leading soft commodity trading groups, while remaining fully independent in its day-to-day trading operations.

Sucden Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

linkedin.com/company/sucden-financial/
x.com/SucdenFinancial
sucdenfinancial.com

Logo : https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2508678/5928643/Sucden_Financial_Logo.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sucden-financial-enables-client-trading-in-shanghai-nickel-futures-302748869.html

Continue Reading

Trending