SoFi to target millennials with launch life insurance product
Digital personal finance company, Social Finance (SoFi) expects to roll out life insurance before the end of the year. Having started out refinancing student loans, SoFi later added personal loans, mortgages and wealth management services. The company now hopes to target millennials in the life insurance market. Last year, the US life insurance market generated $159bn of premiums, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

SAN FRANCISCO — Alyson Casey recently received an invitation to a singles event in Manhattan from a start-up. But it didn’t come from a dating service. It came from the company that had recently refinanced her student loan: SoFi.

The idea of a financial firm playing matchmaker initially struck Ms. Casey, a 35-year-old software saleswoman, as rather unorthodox. But the invitation promised an even split of men and women, and free drinks at the rooftop bar of the James hotel.

After a few glasses of wine — and a few phone numbers collected — the idea of a student lender helping her find a mate made a lot of sense to her.

“These are people with a similar mind-set,” said Ms. Casey, who used SoFi to refinance the student loan that paid for her M.B.A. at New York University. “People who aren’t risk-averse. People who understand a good investment.”