[2] The service provides summaries of over 6,500 titles, including bestselling nonfiction books in fifteen-minute reads, otherwise known as Blinks.

The company was founded in August 2012 by college friends Holger Seim, Tobias Balling, Niklas Jansen and Sebastian Klein.

During their academic journey, they leveraged note-taking as a means to remember the books they read, and realized the value it added to their learning process.

Later that year, Blinkist won the World Summit Awards from the United Nations in the category Education & Learning.

[6] Blinkist partners with more than 45 non-fiction publishers worldwide, and is working directly with over 50 authors and thought leaders to create content for the app.

Organizations can use the Blinkst library to identify content that supports their internal learning programs, recommend titles to employees directly in the app, and get access to expert coaching pathways.

The business focused social media platform LinkedIn named Blinkist one of the top 25 companies to work for in Germany, two consecutive years, in 2018[17] and 2019.

[21] In 2021, the German Design Award named Blinkist as their winner in the category Excellent Communications DesignBrand Identity.

The book Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by bestselling author Tim Ferriss, mentions Blinkist as one of the "Most Impactful Purchases of $100 or Less".

[23] The book brings together an anthology of methods, strategies, and routines from over 130 of the world's foremost achievers, spanning accomplished entrepreneurs to elite athletes and from artists to billionaire investors.

Blinkist's competitors include Littler Books, Book-zap, Sumizeit, BUUK App, Booknotes, Snapreads, ReadingIQ, getAbstract, Instaread, BookRags, and Quiddity.