Clasp, a company that helps healthcare employers build long-term talent pipelines by connecting with clinicians before graduation and tying student loan repayment to tenure, today announced a $20 million Series B led by Crosslink Capital and Digitalis Ventures, driven by demand for its ROTC model: Retention Over Turnover Costs.
Inspired by the military’s early commitment model, Clasp applies this ROTC structure to healthcare through Loan-Linked Hiring, where employers commit to clinicians before graduation and repay student loans over time in exchange for tenure. Instead of relying on large upfront bonuses, employers invest over time, resulting in more stable teams and retention rates that are significantly higher than traditional hiring models.
Clasp positions student loan repayment not as a perk, but as workforce infrastructure. Sign-on bonuses can fill roles quickly, but they are built to reward joining, not staying. When incentives expire, clinicians often leave, forcing health systems to rehire for the same roles and repeat the cycle.
“Healthcare pays people to join and then is surprised when they leave,” said Tess Michaels, Founder and CEO of Clasp. “If we want clinicians to stay, incentives must reward staying. When financial support grows over time instead of expiring after a short clawback window, behavior changes. Teams stabilize. Vacancy cycles decline.”
For many early-career clinicians, student loan payments rival housing as their largest monthly expense, shaping where they work and how long they stay. At the same time, healthcare systems spend billions of dollars each year on sign-on bonuses and contract labor to fill persistent gaps, yet nearly half of clinicians leave their first job within two years.
That mismatch is expected to intensify as new federal loan caps take effect in July 2026, increasing financial pressure on students and competition for talent. In response, Clasp enables employers to commit significant student loan repayment over time, in some cases exceeding $180,000, aligning financial support with tenure and influencing where clinicians choose to work and how long they stay.
Today, Clasp announced new customers including BAYADA, Bergen New Bridge, Confluent Health, Therapy Partners Group, UMass Memorial Health, and UNC Health Appalachian, joining Boston Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, MyEyeDr., Northwestern Medicine, Novant Health, OhioHealth, and VCA Animal Hospitals. Across its network, employers have committed more than $130M in student loan repayment across thousands of programs nationwide.