Founders Bet on Offline Connection as Loneliness Becomes $120B-Plus Investment Theme

A growing cohort of repeat founders is building venture-backed companies aimed at bringing people together offline, betting that technology-eroded social connection represents a scalable market opportunity. Brynn Putnam, who sold connected-fitness company Mirror to Lululemon for $500 million, has raised $35 million for Board, a 24-inch touchscreen table recognizing physical game pieces. Tristan Walker, who sold Walker & Company Brands to Procter & Gamble, founded Heirloom Craft 11 months ago to acquire fine-craft trade schools, starting with a San Francisco leatherworking school. Neither has disclosed Heirloom's funding. The timing follows the WHO's June 2025 classification of loneliness as a global health challenge, affecting one in six people and linked to roughly 870,000 deaths annually. Andy Dunn's Pie has raised $24 million; Audrey Gelman's Six Bells Countryside Inn has raised about $3.8 million. Adam Neumann's Flow, marketed on similar premises, has raised over $450 million. Whether "togetherness" becomes a sizable investment category remains unclear, as convening strangers scales less readily than shipping software.