Blink, a mobile app that connects frontline workers to their employer's internal tools and communications, has raised $17 million to grow its presence in hospitality and other industries where most employees work away from a desk. Founded by Sean Nolan, the company gives restaurant workers, hotel staff, and similar employees access to company news, schedules, and messaging through a single app on their phone. The announcement comes alongside a new global partnership with Shake Shack, which has already rolled out Blink's workforce management tools across its restaurant teams.
The funding arrives at a time when employee turnover in hospitality remains one of the most persistent and expensive problems in the industry. Restaurants and hotels report annual turnover rates between 70 and 80 percent, and in quick-service roles the figure often tops 100 percent. Retention is now considered the single strongest driver of service quality. Replacing just one hourly worker costs operators more than $2,300 once recruiting, hiring, and training are factored in. Tools that help keep staff informed and engaged have become a direct operational priority.
The round was led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), a growth equity firm tied to Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG).
The problem Blink is trying to solve is not unique to restaurants. Across retail, logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing, a large portion of the workforce has no company email, no dedicated desk, and no easy way to access the internal tools that office-based employees use every day. That gap creates friction. Information moves slowly, team members feel out of the loop, and managers have fewer ways to communicate consistently with the people doing the work.
Restaurant industry turnover exceeded 75 percent on average in 2025. Only about one in three hospitality workers reports feeling actively engaged in their daily work. When people are not engaged, they are more likely to leave, and the cycle of hiring and retraining starts again.
"I have always believed that Enlightened Hospitality — the ethos that when you take care of your people, your people take care of your customers — is how to create sustaining success in any business. Blink's technology puts people first by making sure team members are equipped and supported so they can, in turn, deliver their very best." — Danny Meyer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of EHI and Founder of USHG
The new capital will go primarily toward Blink's product and engineering teams, with continued development of its AI-first platform. The company also plans to expand commercially, reaching more customers in hospitality as well as adjacent sectors including retail, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics.
One specific focus is Blink IQ, the company's AI workforce insights platform. It gives managers a real-time view of workforce trends, including staff sentiment, productivity signals, and early signs of turnover risk, so they can identify and respond to issues before they become costly. Usage figures point to real adoption: self-service tools on the platform grew 300 percent year over year in 2025, and employees opened the app an average of seven times a day.
"We are excited to partner with Danny and the EHI team and believe that their commitment to delivering Enlightened Hospitality is more relevant now than ever. We also are thrilled to launch with Shake Shack, an industry leader who shares our commitment to a strong corporate culture that begins on the restaurant floor." — Sean Nolan, Founder and CEO of Blink
Sean Nolan founded Blink to give deskless workers the same access to company information that office employees have by default. The app brings together internal news, team messaging, shift management, pay stub access, digital forms, and other tools into one place, accessible from a personal smartphone. No corporate laptop or email account required.
In 2025, Blink added more than 700,000 users in the hospitality sector alone. The platform is rated the top Employee Communications Application on Gartner Peer Insights and holds a Leader position in the G2 Grid for Best Employee Engagement Software. Clients include McDonald's, Domino's, Booking.com, Dollar Tree, Nokia, easyJet, JD Sports, Carrefour, and Stagecoach.
Enlightened Hospitality Investments manages over $550 million in committed capital. The firm was formed to draw on the brands, businesses, and team at USHG to find and back companies built around employee, customer, and community-focused cultures. Its primary focus is hospitality and hospitality-adjacent technology, though it invests more broadly in companies that share that cultural orientation.
