We bring peace of mind to Academic Travel

With tools for Universities designed to help researchers manage expenses and reimbursements.

We bring peace of mind to Academic Travel

Sofiago in action

This is how we fix Academic Travel

We are the first fintech designed to help Researchers and Graduate Students relieve the financial stress caused by poorly fitted financial tools. Our goal is to empower Academia through tailor-made financial services and by developing partnerships with Universities, Academic Institutions and Organizations.

Researchers: Apply for deferred payment, get your tickets now
We cover event fees, plane tickets, hotel stays and more. Pay with Sofiago, not your credit card. We wait until your reimbursement is available.
Universities: The only platform designed for Academia to easily manage travel and expenses.
Book travel, manage payments & control budgets all in the same secure and compliant platform.

Partnerships and Sponsorships

Our Work With the Community

Why are we doing this?

Millions of researchers struggle with expense reimbursement.

“Got my AECT travel reimbursement today. Just over a month to get repaid for conference travel. Being an academic means that you always need money to play with and can hopefully go weeks without being repaid. #PhDLife #AcademicTwitter”

Dr. Noah Glaser
@Twitter

“For many grad students, financial anxiety originates from loans they’ve already taken out for their undergraduate years — and they’ve since added more debt on top of that. A recent report from the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center found that 54 percent of student loan-holders didn’t try to figure out what their monthly payments would be before taking out loans. If they could go back and do it over, 53 percent said they would do things differently.”

Beth Luberecki
@The Washington Post

“Stop making graduate students pay up front for conferences As I write this, I have two academic trips coming up in the next month. Together, they will cost just over US$1,300.”

John Malloy
@Nature Magazine

“Reimbursement Culture and Widening Participation in Academia Last week, shortly after booking my first overseas PhD research trip, I found out that I’d had a paper proposal accepted by a major conference. Though both of these events were exciting, I swiftly realised that my combined travel and accommodation costs for these trips will be somewhere in the region of £1,500.”

“I am waiting on $2,700, some of which has now been on a credit card for over 18 mos.”

PhD LBH
@Twitter

“As department chair at another institution I had to pay for dept events on my own credit - and it would take 3 months plus to get reimbursed. Dean didn’t seem to understand the realities of family budgeting.”

Catriona MacLeod
@Twitter

“Requiring students to ante up conference funds up front without the hope of being reimbursed for months makes academia less welcoming for scientists who are financially disadvantaged”

Jessica Sagers
@Science Magazine

Who can apply? Researchers and scholars traveling to academic events.

We have helped researchers from Universities everywhere