Two Yale University juniors, Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, have raised $3.1 million in just 14 days to launch Series, an AI-powered social network designed to create warm, double opt-in introductions based on mutual value.
Unlike traditional social platforms that thrive on vanity metrics, Series focuses on facilitating real, purpose-driven connections — starting with college campuses. The founders are positioning Series as a powerful new alternative to the Facebook playbook.
“We’re 6’5”, Black, and technical – a direct foil to the Harvard story,” said Johnson in a press release. “And that difference is the reason Series tells a new story of how people connect online.”
Series deploys AI agents called “AI Friends” — smart, personalized digital matchmakers that live in iMessage — to connect users across its network. Whether someone is an aspiring entrepreneur, a student seeking collaborators, or simply looking for community, Series uses a double opt-in system to ensure connections are genuinely valuable on both ends.
Requests are texted to the AI Friend, which then scans the network and responds with curated introductions. Users receive minimalist profiles that highlight shared connections and purpose, not follower counts.
Importantly, users must sign up with a .edu email address, keeping the community grounded in a trusted academic network and focused on students first.
Since launching in 2025, Series has facilitated over 32,000 messages and successfully connected students at campuses like Yale, Princeton, and Northeastern.
The journey to Series wasn’t without its challenges. As a freshman, Johnson built a popular orientation app for Yale students called Mix26 — only to be told by a university official that he didn’t “have what it takes to be a builder.”
Undeterred, he and Hargrow launched The Founder Series Podcast, which featured conversations with student entrepreneurs and racked up more than 500,000 views.
That momentum evolved into an early version of Series, first as a viral web chatbot that connected users based on mutual value. The concept quickly resonated, leading to the formation of the AI Friend model and, ultimately, the venture-backed version of Series.
Their viral fundraising journey began with a LinkedIn trailer that sparked a call with Anne Lee Skates. Within two weeks, the founders were in Silicon Valley, pitching investors and closing their round.
“Once we capture the college entrepreneurial market, we’ll expand to finance, dating, education, health, and more. All of these fields in the student space rely on trust, access, and social capital,” explained Johnson. “Our long-term vision is to become the largest and most accessible warm network for just about anything – one billion AI Friends in the next decade. Social connection is broken; we’re rebuilding it with AI that acts like a well-connected friend in your pocket, making connections to who you need, when you need, IRL.”
Series is currently exploring premium memberships and corporate partnerships as potential revenue streams. But at its heart, the startup remains mission-driven: to repair our fractured model of social connection through AI that’s smart, trustworthy, and designed to serve real people — not algorithms.
Photo Credit: Series
