Yale Juniors Raise $3.1M In 14 Days For Their New AI Social Network

Yale juniors Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow have raised $3.1 million in pre-seed funding for their social network platform, Series, which helps users connect with others who offer mutual value.

Series, still just a few months old, secured the funding in only 14 days after a trailer posted by Johnson on LinkedIn went viral in the college entrepreneurial community. The buzz attracted strong investor interest, including from former a16z investor Anne Lee Skates, who went on to lead the pre-seed round through her venture fund Parable.

Changing the way we connect

Johnson and Hargrow are juniors at Yale, where they both joined the university’s Society for Aspiring Entrepreneurs. “One thing we quickly realized from meeting successful entrepreneurs and business founders was that they had engineered their own luck,” Johnson says. “They didn’t just trust that fate would connect them to the people they needed to meet.”

The pair wanted to move away from the current social media narrative that focuses on online metrics such as likes, followers, and reposts as a form of real-life value.

“The problem of quantifying value online isn’t a recent development – it started with Facebook back in ’04. Not to say these platforms don’t build great communities, but they embody the narrative that online metrics equate to real world value” said Johnson in a press release. “We’re 6’5”, Black, and technical – a direct foil to the Harvard story. And that difference is the reason Series tells a new story of how people connect online.”

Series makes introductions based on mutual value

Users on Series can request support from other network users, like an entrepreneur looking for someone to help write a business plan. The request is made to an AI-powered agent, which Series calls the agent your “AI friend.” It then explores the network to introduce the user to other members who might help.

“Your AI friend makes warm introductions. It matches you with people who have effectively invited you into their lives by joining Series,” Johnson told Forbes.

The startup focuses on connecting people with mutual value rather than creating a network where people aim to have a high following. The concept came from a podcast series Johnson and Hargrow built, including interviews with Yale entrepreneurs. They then launched a web-based chatbot to host curated introductions. Series expands on that.

The $3.1 Million investment

The fund will help develop Series, fund new hires, and a nationwide tour of universities aimed at gathering more student entrepreneur members across the US. The investment also allows the network to monetize the business through premium memberships for potential corporate members.

The $3.1 million round is led by Parable, the venture firm led by former a16z investor Anne Lee Skates, with involvement from Pear VC, DGB.VC, 47th Street, Radicle Impact and Uncommon Projects. Series has also attracted business angel investment, including from Steve Huffman, the CEO of Redditt, and Edward Tian, a founder at GPTZero.

Image: Series