Two college kids raise a $5.1 million pre-seed to build an AI social network in iMessage - BERITAJA

Series, a societal networking app, announced that it raised a $5.1 cardinal pre-seed round, pinch investors including Venmo co-founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Pear VC, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and GPTZero laminitis Edward Tian. The institution was founded early past twelvemonth by Yale students Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, some still seniors astatine the university. 

Series considers itself to beryllium a next-generation societal networking platform, alternatively than an AI app, and hails itself arsenic 1 of the first to activity wholly done iMessage, Johnson, the CEO, told TechCrunch.

Users matter a telephone number (Series AI) connected iMessage, explaining who they are and who they are looking to link with. From there, Series AI messages the personification back, offering what is called “shares”— aliases a carousel of 10 images that 1 could easy swipe done — of posts from different group besides utilizing Share AI looking to link for a akin reason. Each carousel paper includes a person’s photograph and their ask, and users could property and clasp the carousel photograph to commencement a backstage speech pinch different personification successful the Series AI chat, without sharing their individual number. 

Johnson, who is studying machine subject and economics, is simply a laminitis during a unsocial clip successful tech history, marked by accelerated AI advancements and much investor money than ever before. He’s portion of the adjacent procreation of young founders whose businesses and mindsets are AI-first from inception, thing investors opportunity gives young founders a caput commencement complete incumbents and older founders who are trying to pivot and drawback up. 

He sees the manufacture undergoing a monolithic exertion displacement from personification interfaces to speech interfaces, for illustration from Google hunt to ChatGPT, “where you’re utilized to scrolling done libraries and clicking connected websites versus conversing pinch AI aliases thing other to quickly place what you’re looking for.” 

Johnson and Hargrow met while moving connected a podcast successful their freshman twelvemonth astatine the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. Johnson said they utilized to question and reply founders and CEOs to summation insights into building a successful business, and done those conversations, “realized the powerfulness of lukewarm connections.” 

“We past proceeded our freshman summertime to commencement a business independent from the nine and incorporated a institution about that aforesaid thesis, utilizing AI arsenic a lukewarm relationship facilitator,” Johnson said. He and Hargrow, who studied neuroscience astatine Yale, went done aggregate iterations of what is now Series. When they landed connected a conception they liked, about a twelvemonth aft their first prototype, they began fundraising for it successful March 2025, building a squad of 8 successful the process. 

Johnson and his squad decided to make a now-viral LinkedIn video about the motorboat of Series. “We came up pinch the trailer thought astatine 1 a.m. the nighttime before, stayed up each nighttime to sprout the video and posted it astatine 3 p.m. that aforesaid day,” Johnson said. Two days later, they met their first investor.

The level precocious opened up beyond its college-student guidelines but still intends to target Gen Z and professionals. Most group usage it for business reasons, Johnson said, though they person seen others usage it for making love aliases to find friends. “Students usage Series crossed much than 750 campuses,” he said. “Activated users connected Series clasp astatine 82% done Day 30, higher than early Facebook’s benchmark.” 

Others successful this space see Boardy AI, which besides uses AI to foster web introductions.

Series’s caller superior will beryllium utilized to prosecute much engineers and grow merchandise capabilities. After graduation, the institution will enactment connected the East Coast, and already useful retired of an agency successful Chelsea, New York (they make the 2 hr commute from New Haven, Connecticut, wherever Yale is, to New York frequently, Johnson said).

“We person built an first web for Series amongst the Ivy League and much prominently, schools successful the East Coast. Also, we person a beardown belief successful Silicon Alley,” Johnson said of the determination to enactment East, matching a inclination of young user founders picking New York complete Silicon Valley. 

Notably, he and Hargrow have not dropped retired of college. Johnson said a bully time is 1 wherever everything runs smoothly, but a bad 1 could beryllium 1 wherever he has a bunch of exams and essays to constitute while besides balancing moving a team. He didn’t driblet out, he said, because he felt he had clip to some study and tally a company. Seems he was right.

“Your other clip extracurricular of your expected responsibility could beryllium utilized to catapult what you’re genuinely meant to do,” he said. “People are often truthful frightened to make usage of their other time.”