What Happens to the Uber of Helicopters When Summer’s Over?

“The under-34 crowd is a large part of our customer base, and I often ask them: How do you pay for this?” says Rob Wiesenthal, chief executive officer and founder of Blade, a 15-month-old service that connects travelers to helicopter and seaplane flights. “And I have had someone say, ‘Well I have a summer share and this gives me six extra hours each weekend, so to pay for it I go to my mom’s house for Christmas, instead of Acapulco with my friends.”

Until recently, Blade’s success relied on that summer share contingent—Hamptons beachgoers willing to pay the $395-to-$1,250 to skip traffic on the LIE—but with a $6 million infusion of cash on a $25 million valuation from investors, including IAC’s Barry Diller and Google’s Eric Schmidt, Wiesenthal is looking past the South Fork.