Fizz – a Gen Z-founded social media platform exclusively available for college students – recently announced the raise of its $25 million series B funding round led by Owl Ventures with participation from NEA. And Fizz rose above what Crunchbase considers the lowest funding quarter for Series B rounds in 3 years and does so on the heels of raising a $12 million Series A in November 2022.
This new funding round will help Fizz continue the expansion of its authentic and community-centric social media app to more colleges and universities nationwide. And Fizz aims to free Gen-Z social media users from the constant judgment, comparison, and unachievable expectations that legacy social platforms have become known for. The company’s goal is to create a safer, private, and more engaging digital space to encourage users to be their authentic selves and share content about what it’s like to be a college student.
This campus-focused model creates private communities for each school so scrolling through Fizz is not only fun, but it allows students to form connections with classmates they may not otherwise cross paths with.
Now live at more than 90 college campuses, Fizz is taking the college market by storm. And in several recent campus launches, Fizz penetrated more than 50% of the student body within two months, and across the board, app usage is showing a steeper growth rate than original launches at schools like Stanford and Pepperdine which now have over 95% adoption.
As Fizz is preparing to launch at hundreds of more campuses this Fall, they are expanding their leadership team and bringing on Alex Le to be Chief Product Officer. Le, formerly an Executive Vice President at Reddit responsible for consumer product, design, and community, led a turnaround and modernization of the product suite from 2015 to 2022 and helped grow the site 10x during his tenure. And Reddit is now the world’s largest network of communities. At Fizz, he is going to support expansion to more schools and use his expertise to spearhead app enhancements that both students and the market will demand.
Fizz is going to use its latest funding to expand its team to prepare for more campus launches and build more features tailored to user requests. And the company is seeking talented and driven engineers to join their team in Palo Alto, CA, to help the app evolve as the social media landscape continues to shift.
KEY QUOTES:
“Especially at a larger school, I tend to spend time with the same group of people who share the same interests as me. With Fizz, I believe I have a more well-rounded understanding of activity on campus beyond those in my immediate circle. There’s a sense of equal footing that isn’t really paralleled on another social media platform – no matter who you are, you’re capable of reaching a lot of people.”
— Sarah Ordway, a Fizz user and Northwestern student in the class of 2026
“Our generation grew up on social media and we’re tired of screen time corresponding to feeling anxious and unworthy. Fizz keeps growing because regardless of the type of school or campus culture, this experience is what college students and the rest of the Gen Z generation really want out of social media – something that’s positive and different than Instagram and Facebook. Fizz elevates the college student’s on-campus life and makes them feel more empowered and included in their student body, on and off their devices.”
— Teddy Solomon, co-founder and COO at Fizz
“My time at Reddit showed me the incredible power of digital communities, and I’m excited to help build a better way for Gen Z to connect with each other online. I love Rakesh, Teddy and Ashton’s vision to create a safe environment for college students to communicate and form connections with each other and I look forward to working with them to make Fizz the go-to app for Gen Z.”
— Alex Le, Chief Product Officer at Fizz
”What makes Fizz unique is that we are truly obsessed with our customers. Alex Le will be a fantastic addition to our team to help us further cater the Fizz experience to students’ needs and see what’s around the corner in the world of social media. We’re thankful for the support from our investors at Owl and NEA, and as we keep growing, we’ll stay focused on our mission to ensure that Fizz is always bringing value to our users.“
— Rakesh Mathur, CEO of Fizz
”What truly captivates us with Fizz is the team’s unique commitment to fostering a genuine sense of belonging, breaking away from the exclusionary norms seen in other social apps. Fizz’s remarkable growth and user engagement underscore the need for more authentic and community-oriented social experiences for Gen Z and beyond. We eagerly anticipate the ongoing impact Rakesh, Teddy, Ashton, and their talented team will bring to the college experience nationwide.”
— Emily Bennett, Principal at Owl Ventures
“Fizz creates repeated moments of connection for their users and gives them immediate access to the heart of their community. That hyper-relevance has allowed Fizz to achieve the same levels of engagement that the largest social media companies have with a tiny fraction of the resources. The builders’ native experience is a key ingredient for any social company to thrive and create enduring value over time. This team has that quality in spades, and we’re thrilled to be partners with them and with Owl on this journey.”
— Danielle Lay, Partner at NEA
