Silicon Ivy Ventures leads $1 million investment in student-founded Higher One

Silicon Ivy Ventures, the premier student-targeted venture capital fund (formerly known as Paradigm Blue), today announced an investment in Higher One, a financial services company founded by Yale undergraduates.

Higher One will provide financial services specifically tailored for the university market. From our position as recent students, we think we can best understand the unique financial needs of students, parents and universities," said Higher One founder Sean Glass. Glass, along with Higher One co-founders Mark Volchek and Miles Lasater, has previously been recognized for creation of the highly praised Yale Entrepreneurial Society. The capital raised will be used to expand the Higher One team to include additional senior executives, creating a combination of entrepreneurial energy and industry experience that should allow Higher One to grow quickly and successfully.

Were very excited," said Silicon Ivy managing partner Josh Newman. Higher Ones product is tremendously innovative, and the founding team has a great track record of previous success. Bringing Yale from a school with no campus entrepreneurial organization to one which held one of the countrys largest collegiate business plan competition certainly demonstrates the sort of initiative and execution that we look for."

Silicon Ivy Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on identifying promising student-founded businesses and providing them with the capital necessary to build a strong business foundation. The firm, which has alliances with top venture capital firms including Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Primedia Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners, is led by three veteran student entrepreneurs with proven track records of establishing successful businesses while still in college. While at UVA, partner Bill Martin founded RagingBull.com, a leading online financial service recently acquired by AltaVista. While at Yale, managing partner Joshua Newman founded Sharkbyte Technology Consulting, an Internet strategy and development consulting firm he later sold to Quantrum International. Partner Eric Ries founded Catalyst Recruiting, an innovative Web-based college recruiting firm, while still at Yale.