Tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul English ’87, G’89, H’19 is widely known and lauded for his many ventures in the tech and travel sectors. Most notably, he is the co-founder of the travel industry giant Kayak.com, as well as the founder of six start-ups.

Now he and his partner Rachel Cohen are diving headfirst into the dating pool through their new app, Lola.

Launched in December 2023, Lola is designed to cut through virtual dating frustrations and foster genuine connections between matches. The app takes an availability-centric approach with its interface, touting a calendar-based matchmaking system that prioritizes those available to meet that week. English and Cohen, who met on Bumble, said they are committed to fostering quality interactions, rolling out innovative features such as a review system, anonymous feedback, and strategies for filtering out non-intentional daters.

Lola is just one of several new businesses coming out of English’s Boston Venture Studio, including Deets, an app that launched in 2022 to be a source for recommendations on places like restaurants from people’s network of friends.

English earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from UMass Boston. Over the past two decades, he has supported educational research and student scholarships for the department of computer science. In 2023, he established the Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute, a groundbreaking initiative that English conceptualized and funded with a $5 million gift to the university.