LLR Partners Invests in Orbis Education

Growth capital investment will be used to fund new academic partnerships as well as geographic and program expansion

PHILADELPHIA & INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orbis Education (“Orbis”), a national healthcare education services provider, announced today that it has received a growth capital investment from Philadelphia-based private equity firm LLR Partners (“LLR”). Founded in 2003, Orbis strives to alleviate nursing workforce shortages by partnering leading academic institutions with healthcare systems to offer turnkey educational programs focused on academic quality and student preparedness.

“In addition to a surge in the demand for nurses, there is an increasing requirement for nurses to be better academically prepared, which we believe Orbis is uniquely positioned to address.”

“Orbis Education is proving that healthcare education can be transformed to help solve workforce shortages,” said Daniel Briggs, Chief Executive Officer of Orbis. “We are delighted to partner with LLR to take Orbis Education to the next level. LLR can provide significant expertise and support that will allow us to continue our strong growth.”

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Orbis Education leads the industry in providing collaborative, growth-enablement education solutions. The company marries online education with onsite clinical application to create comprehensive, customized solutions that help colleges, universities and healthcare systems expand their nursing programs.

“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with Dan Briggs and the Orbis management team to expand such an innovative, high quality academic offering to help alleviate the nursing shortage,” said Jack Slye, Principal at LLR Partners. “In addition to a surge in the demand for nurses, there is an increasing requirement for nurses to be better academically prepared, which we believe Orbis is uniquely positioned to address.”

According to the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report, The Future of Nursing, the profession of nursing is evolving dramatically, and the proportion of nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level is recommended to increase from 50 to 80 percent by 2020 in order to meet the increasing demand for healthcare in the United States. More than 280,000 new jobs have been added to the healthcare sector in the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet the current nursing shortage is still more than twice as large as any nursing shortage the U.S. has ever experienced, creating a need for more than 250,000 new nurses in the next decade.

About Orbis Education

Founded in 2003, Orbis Education creates, markets, and manages collaborative healthcare education solutions that help alleviate workforce shortages for hospitals and healthcare systems. Orbis Education enables the growth of existing educational programs by pairing an academic institution with a healthcare system to offer high quality programs. For more information, visit http://www.orbiseducation.com.

About LLR Partners

LLR Partners invests in middle market growth companies with proven business models in a broad range of industries, including healthcare, consumer and education, financial services, business services and software and IT services. With over $1.4 billion under management, LLR provides capital for growth, recapitalizations and buyouts. For more information about LLR, please visit www.llrpartners.com.