Kayak cofounder gets $20M to put Boston on the consumer tech map

Unlike Silicon Valley and New York City, Boston has long focused on health-tech and biotech companies, without much consumer technology presence.

But a new design and consumer-tech incubator is hoping to change that. Former chief technology officer and cofounder of Kayak, Paul English, is launching the new Boston-based incubator, called Blade,next month together with longtime collaborators and Kayak colleagues Bill O’Donnell and Paul Schwenk. The group has gotten $20 million from Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners, both backers of Kayak.

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The venue will serve “as a startup foundry during the day and as a private club at night to create an intersection of consumer-focused technology and design for artists, designers, developers, and entrepreneurs,” a spokesperson told VentureBeat.

The incubator will be helping entrepreneurs form their companies, recruit staff, and implement consumer design principles. It will also be investing $500,000 to $1 million in seed funding in each company and will help with future fundraising efforts if needed, according to a TechCrunch report.

Although there are accelerator programs based in Boston, such as TechStars Boston, companies often participate in accelerators for the duration of the program, then move back to their hometown, having little impact on the long-term roster of companies based in a city (Silicon Valley aside). Blade expects to help its startups put down roots in Boston.