HAGS Announces $1M Seed Funding Led by GV with Participation from BoxGroup to Bring New Digital Experiences to Gen-Z

The company behind the popular product, HAGS: Yearbook Signatures, expands to virtual classrooms with new app features.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HAGS, the company building creative and fun digital experiences for Gen-Z students, today announced $1M in seed funding led by GV, with participation from BoxGroup and several angel investors. The company’s first product, HAGS: Yearbook Signatures, launched in summer 2020 and enabled tens of thousands of high school students to sign their friends’ yearbooks through Snapchat. With students across the globe transitioning to remote and hybrid high school experiences this year, the HAGS team is expanding its product to include new app features that connect students and their peers in a virtual setting.

HAGS brings fun and delight into the school day through imaginative interfaces. The company works with over 200+ high school ambassadors across the U.S. as they continue to deliver products and experiences created by and for Gen-Z. HAGS will launch its new digital classrooms in beta in six high schools in California, and students at these schools will be able to walk into their high school on HAGS and interact with their classmates.

“The HAGS founding team is part of, and deeply understands, a generation that is increasingly shaping the cultural landscape,” said Terri Burns, Principal at GV. “The team consists of incredible consumer product thinkers, and they are deeply committed to building a product that grows alongside the customer. We are impressed with HAGS’ ability to create refreshing new experiences that resonate with Gen-Z.”

“We’re excited to brainstorm new ways to use SnapKit and how we can work together to make high school students’ lives more fun,” said Suraya Shivji, CEO and co-founder of HAGS. “We’re looking forward to continuing to collaborate with our advisors and investors at GV and BoxGroup as we bring new digital experiences to high school students.”

When COVID-19 prevented Jameel Shivji and high school students across the country from finishing the school year in person, the 18-year old teamed up with his sister, Suraya Shivji, and co-founder James Dale to create a yearbook powered by Snapchat for students to use. HAGS is headquartered in New York City, remotely distributed, and continues to grow its team and experiment with imaginative interfaces.

“The founding team drew on our collective design and software engineering experience at Apple, Spotify, and Figma while creating HAGS. We’re excited to experiment with new technology as we build out the next stage of the company,” said James Dale, co-founder of HAGS.

ABOUT HAGS

HAGS builds creative and fun digital experiences for high school students, created by and for Gen-Z. The company’s first product, HAGS: Yearbook Signatures, launched in summer 2020. The company is backed by GV and BoxGroup and headquartered in New York City, NY. To learn more about HAGS, please visit hags.app.

Contacts

James Dale

Co-Founder / CTO

james@lowercase.digital