Board, a three-year-old startup out of New York, has raised $20 million in its latest funding round. The company is building what it calls 'together tech', with its flagship product being a 24-inch touchscreen board game device that recognises physical game pieces, blending tactile games with digital interactivity.

The traction since launch has been impressive: the Board device is now in thousands of homes and public spaces across the United States, with 85% of customers averaging 30 or more play sessions per month. In addition to this, the company has announced a new AI-powered creation platform called Board Studio, which will allow anyone to create original board games using natural language prompts.

Board’s funding comes at a time when consumer tech is showing signs of recovery, with some investors now seeing it as worthwhile once again. The device represents an attempt by its founder, Brynn Putnam, to build on her previous success in the connected fitness space and create something that encourages face-to-face interaction rather than digital isolation.

Putnam sees Board as a natural extension of what she learned about consumer hardware while building Mirror, a connected fitness startup sold to Lululemon for $500 million. The idea is simple but increasingly popular: the best use of tech might be to get people to put down their devices and engage with each other in person.

Time will tell if Board can succeed where many consumer tech products have failed, but one thing is certain – it’s a welcome step towards more human interaction in an increasingly digital world.