CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and AUSTIN, Texas, May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vestigo Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on transformative fintech investments, announced today that it led a $3.5 million Seed Series Prime financing round for Student Loan Genius (SLG), an employee benefits platform that positions companies to recruit and retain top talent by enabling them to repay employee student loan debt. CMFG Ventures, Prudential Financial and Rubicon Venture Capital also participated in the round.

The funds raised will be used by SLG to support commercialization of its offering as well as to grow its technology, sales and marketing teams.

"SLG is driving innovation in employee benefits that hasn't been seen since the emergence of the 401K decades ago. With 70 percent of the emerging workforce saddled with student loans, it is incumbent on employers to empower the current and future workforce generations to succeed in the market, unencumbered by the high cost and burden of debt," said Michael Nugent, Managing Director, Vestigo Ventures. "SLG fits within Vestigo's mission to finance fintech companies focused on worksite management. We are especially impressed with the management team and its actionable go-to-market strategy to bring SLG's products and services to major companies nationwide."

In 2017 there were 44 million Americans with $1.4 trillion in student loan debt and that number is expected to rise to 75 million employees and $3 trillion by 2027. SLG enables HR teams to recruit and retain the best talent by offering a student loan repayment benefit. Today major companies like New York Life, Ralph Lauren and Mastercard offer SLG to differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace.

"In an environment made up of the most educated workforce to-date with the current high employment rate, organizations are becoming keenly aware of the difficulty retaining their best people," said Matt Beecher, CEO of Student Loan Genius. "This new funding validates Student Loan Genius' mission and efforts to enable companies to retain their top talent in an increasingly competitive workforce through unique benefits, like student loan payments, that meet their employee's needs."

About Vestigo              
Vestigo Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts that invests in financial technology (fintech) companies. The Firm was founded by David Blundin, founder and chairman of Cogo Labs, Mark Casady, former CEO and chairman of LPL Financial, and Managing Directors Ian Sheridan and Mike Nugent. Vestigo has identified four areas of concentration: market structure, operations solutions, worksite management and personal wealth. Learn more at www.vestigoventures.com.

About Student Loan Genius
Student Loan Genius is an employee benefits platform that gives employers a cutting-edge in attracting and retaining top talent by offering financial management tools, unbiased advice and employer contributions. Companies of all sizes, including New York Life, Ralph Lauren, Mastercard, and Pinterest offer SLG benefits to differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace. SLG is on a mission to help companies keep their best people. For more information, visit www.studentloangenius.com or follow us at @MySLGenius.

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SOURCE Vesitgo Ventures