Board, the new game startup from Mirror founder Brynn Putnam, raises $20M, has already sold thousands

Board , the three-year-old, New York-based startup building what it calls “together tech” — tech designed to bring people physically into the same room — has closed a $20 million Series A led by Union Square Ventures. General Partner Michael Mignano, in his first investment since joining USV, will join the company’s board of directors. The round also brought in some famous angel investors including Biz Stone, Tim Ferriss, and Scott Belsky. The raise comes about eight months after founder Brynn Putnam — who previously sold connected fitness startup Mirror to Lululemon for $500 million — unveiled Board publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt last October. The Board device is a 24-inch touchscreen in a wood-finish frame that uses proprietary technology to recognize physical game pieces, blending the tactile feel of board games with the interactivity of video games. Traction since launch has been strong, the company says: Board is now in tens of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, and restaurants across all 50 states, with 85% of customers averaging 30 or more play sessions per month. Alongside the funding, Board announced Board Studio, an AI-powered creation platform launching later this year that will let anyone build original games using natural language prompts — from idea to playable prototype in under an hour, it says. Board had previously raised $15 million in funding led by the venture firm Lerer Hippeau, which had also led Mirror’s $3 million seed round years earlier. …