Techstars-backed Blink Raises $17 Million from Enlightened Hospitality Investments and Announces Global Partnership with Shake Shack

Blink, the leading mobile-first employee experience platform, led by Sean Nolan and the team, has raised $17 million in funding from Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), the growth equity fund affiliated with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Blink also announced a new global partnership with Shake Shack following a successful integration of its workforce management solutions.

As frontline industries such as restaurants face high turnover, margin pressure, and operational complexity, Blink is helping organizations improve communication, engagement, and workforce coordination.

The platform enables employees to access key information, manage shifts, and stay connected across teams through a unified app, driving higher satisfaction and productivity. In 2025, adoption of Blink’s self-service tools grew 300% year over year, with employees opening the app an average of seven times per day to stay informed and engaged.

Sean Nolan expressed excitement about partnering with EHI, highlighting a shared focus on “Enlightened Hospitality” and a stronger frontline workplace culture.

He also noted the launch partnership with Shake Shack, emphasizing collaboration with brands focused on empowering employees and strengthening performance in competitive, frontline-driven industries.

Blink will use the funding to expand its product and engineering teams, further develop its AI-first platform, and accelerate its go-to-market strategy to serve more customers across hospitality and other frontline industries.

Danny Meyer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Enlightened Hospitality Investments, emphasized that “Enlightened Hospitality” centers on taking care of employees so they can better serve customers, and highlighted how Blink supports this model by equipping and empowering frontline teams to deliver better service and shape the future of restaurants.

Blink’s Blink IQ platform provides managers with real-time insights into workforce trends such as feedback, productivity, sentiment, and turnover, enabling earlier issue detection, faster action, and improved employee engagement and operational performance.

Luke DeRouen highlighted that at Shake Shack, people and “Enlightened Hospitality” are central to the employee and customer experience, and noted that Blink will help provide simple tools to keep teams informed, connected, and engaged across both support and restaurant operations.

Blink works with leading hospitality brands across restaurants and hotels and is expanding into sectors such as retail, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics.

In 2025 alone, the company added over 700,000 users in the hospitality sector.