The people
What they build
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Working at Blynk
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On the TechTO stage
Jaclyn Ling of Blynk Style presents What Makes a Good Partnership
Watch on YouTube ↗Jaclyn Ling of Kik presents Starting a Company is Like a Game of Poker
Watch on YouTube ↗Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Blynk ↗
About
Blynk started as a consumer app: swipe right on outfits you like, swipe left on ones you don't, and learning algorithms send back recommendations you can buy. Ling described it on the TechTO stage in April 2015 as "your personal stylist in your pocket," running about five million swipes a month, with the early recommendations hand-made by Ling herself before the data was enough to automate. When affiliate linking didn't work as a business model and the app's growth flattened, the team pivoted to selling white-label recommendation algorithms to retailers, reaching major names including Michael Kors — but sale cycles ran six months to two years. A partnership with the messaging app Kik covered expenses, and in December 2015 Kik acquired Blynk and its four-person team. Ling told the 2017 TechTO stage the acquisition was "the best decision": the team believed in Kik's bet on chat platforms and bots, and she and Kassam were young enough that an exit bought them resources for whatever came next. Ling joined Kik's Bots Platform product team; she and Kassam went on to co-found Hatchways (YC S19).
Backers
The Next 36 (seed funding through the program) and $100K won at Startup Festival Montreal, per Ling's TechTO talks; TechCrunch reported limited outside investment. No priced venture round is on the record.
Quick answers
What did Blynk do?
It was a mobile app that learned your style through swipes — right to like an outfit, left to pass — and used learning algorithms to send back outfit recommendations you could shop. It later sold those recommendation algorithms to retailers as a white-label product.
Who founded Blynk?
Jaclyn Ling and Shums Kassam, in Toronto in 2013. They met in The Next 36 program; Ling was CEO and Kassam built the product. Both later co-founded Hatchways.
What happened to Blynk?
Kik acquired Blynk and its four-person team in December 2015 for an undisclosed sum, after a partnership between the two companies. The swipe interface became a native Kik feature and the team moved onto Kik's bots platform. Ling told the TechTO stage in March 2017 that the pivot to white-label algorithms had long sale cycles and the company was running out of money, which made the Kik deal the strongest of the options on the table.