Two Yale undergraduates have secured $5.1 million in pre-seed funding to scale Series, an innovative social networking platform integrated directly into iMessage. The startup, founded by Nathan Johnson and his partner, aims to disrupt the social media landscape by leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate high-quality professional and personal connections, bypassing traditional app silos.
Viral Growth and Rapid Funding
The momentum behind Series began with a calculated gamble. Johnson and his team conceptualized and filmed a trailer for the platform in a single overnight session, posting it to LinkedIn at 3:00 p.m. the following day. The viral video resonated instantly, connecting the founders with their first investor within just 48 hours.
Product Traction and User Engagement
While originally designed for the collegiate market, Series has expanded its reach to Gen Z and young professionals. The platform is currently active across more than 750 university campuses. According to Johnson, the app’s utility is diverse, spanning professional networking, dating, and friendship discovery. Most importantly, the platform reports an 82% retention rate through Day 30—a metric that notably outperforms the early benchmarks set by Facebook.
Strategic Expansion and New York Roots
The fresh capital injection is earmarked for aggressive engineering hires and the development of new product features. Despite the typical founder migration to Silicon Valley, the team is committing to “Silicon Alley,” maintaining a headquarters in Chelsea, New York. The founders continue to balance their startup responsibilities with their studies at Yale, frequently commuting between New Haven and New York City.
“We have built an initial network for Series amongst the Ivy League and more prominently, schools in the East Coast,” Johnson noted. By choosing to remain in New York, the founders are aligning with a growing trend of consumer-focused startups prioritizing the East Coast ecosystem over traditional West Coast hubs.
Balancing Academics and Entrepreneurship
Rejecting the “dropout founder” archetype, Johnson insists that his academic obligations and the demands of running a high-growth company are not mutually exclusive. He argues that the time outside of formal obligations is often squandered, whereas he uses it to propel the company forward. As the platform enters its next growth phase, it faces competition from emerging players in the AI-networking space, such as Boardy AI, which also utilizes artificial intelligence to automate network introductions.