Series, a social networking app, announced that it raised a $5.1 million pre-seed round, with investors including Venmo co-founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Pear VC, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and GPTZero founder Edward Tian. The company was founded early last year by Yale students Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, both still seniors at the university.
Series considers itself to be a next-generation social networking platform, rather than an AI app, and hails itself as one of the first to work entirely through iMessage, Johnson, the CEO, notified TechCrunch.
Users text a phone number (Series AI) on iMessage, explaining who they are and who they are viewing to connect with. From there, Series AI messages the utilizer back, offering what is called “shares”— or a caroutilizel of 10 images that one can easily swipe through — of posts from other people also utilizing Series AI viewing to connect for a similar reason. Each caroutilizel card includes a person’s photo and their inquire, and utilizers can press and hold the caroutilizel photo to start a private conversation with another utilizer in the Series AI chat, without sharing their personal number.
Johnson, who is studying computer science and economics, is a founder during a unique time in tech history, marked by rapid AI advancements and more investor money than ever before. He’s part of the next generation of young founders whose businesses and mindsets are AI-first from inception, something investors state gives young founders a head start over incumbents and older founders who are attempting to pivot and catch up.
He sees the indusattempt undergoing a massive technology shift from utilizer interfaces to conversation interfaces, like from Google search to ChatGPT, “where you’re utilized to scrolling through libraries and clicking on websites versus conversing with AI or something else to quickly identify what you’re viewing for.”
Johnson and Hargrow met while working on a podcast in their freshman year at the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. Johnson stated they utilized to interview founders and CEOs to gain insights into building a successful business, and through those conversations, “realized the power of warm connections.”
“We then proceeded our freshman summer to start a business indepfinishent from the club and incorporate a company around that same thesis, utilizing AI as a warm connection facilitator,” Johnson stated. He and Hargrow, who studied neuroscience at Yale, went through multiple iterations of what is now Series. When they landed on a concept they liked, about a year after their first prototype, they launched fundraising for it in March 2025, building a team of eight in the process.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
Johnson and his team decided to build a now-viral LinkedIn video about the launch of Series. “We came up with the trailer idea at 1 a.m. the night before, stayed up all night to shoot the video and posted it at 3 p.m. that same day,” Johnson stated. Two days later, they met their first investor.
The platform recently opened up beyond its college-student base but still aims to tarreceive Gen Z and professionals. Most people utilize it for business reasons, Johnson stated, though they have seen others utilize it for dating or to find frifinishs. “Students utilize Series across more than 750 camputilizes,” he stated. “Activated utilizers on Series retain at 82% through Day 30, higher than early Facebook’s benchmark.”
Others in this space include Boardy AI, which also utilizes AI to foster network introductions.
Series’ fresh capital will be utilized to hire more engineers and expand product capabilities. After graduation, the company will stay on the East Coast, and already works out of an office in Chelsea, New York (they build the two-hour commute from New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is, to New York frequently, Johnson stated).
“We have built an initial network for Series amongst the Ivy League and more prominently, schools in the East Coast. Also, we have a strong belief in Silicon Alley,” Johnson stated of the decision to stay East, matching a trfinish of young consumer founders picking New York over Silicon Valley.
Notably, he and Hargrow have not dropped out of college. Johnson stated a good day is one where everything runs smoothly, but a bad one can be one where he has a bunch of exams and esstates to write while also balancing running a team. He didn’t drop out, he stated, becautilize he felt he had time to both study and run a company. Seems he was right.
“Your extra time outside of your supposed obligation can be utilized to catapult what you’re truly meant to do,” he stated. “People are often so scared to build utilize of their extra time.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a compact commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial indepfinishence.
Leave a Reply