Riverside’s Latest Investment Features Education at Its CORE

The Riverside Company, a global private investor focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has invested in CORE Higher Education Group, known for its leading solutions in student competency management, clinical education and workforce readiness within the higher education industry.

Founded in 2006, CORE today supports more than 375 programs at over 175 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada in the areas of recruiting, experiential / clinical education, competency assessment, workforce readiness and digital portfolios. The investment will enable CORE to accelerate its growth and continue building its suite of software applications to support students through the entire student journey.

“Riverside has been an active investor in the higher ed software industry over the last decade, and we’re excited to further that commitment with an investment in CORE,” said Riverside Managing Partner Loren Schlachet. “The CORE team has built a world-class software platform, team and customer base that is well positioned for continued expansion.”

“I’m excited about partnering with Riverside due to its focus on investing in high quality companies that deliver compelling benefits to customers,” said CORE Founder and CEO Gregory Cianfarani. “Riverside has an outstanding support structure and success rate with supporting software companies as they scale and accelerate growth. With this added financial backing, we will improve our products faster and build out the capabilities needed by our clients throughout the higher education market and beyond.”

Cianfarani and other members of the CORE management team will continue to be meaningful shareholders of the company and stay in their existing management roles.

In 2006, CORE started off by offering its clinical management software (ELMS) to health science programs helping them improve their data management, security and operational efficiencies within the experiential and clinical education components of the curriculum. Reacting to customer feedback, employer feedback and accreditation needs, CORE has since expanded its offerings to include student recruiting (RECRUIT), student competency assessment and curricular mapping (CompMS), student workforce readiness (READINESS), student-employer relationship building (MyCred ePortfolios) and continuing education access (CESearchEngine.com).

“We’re excited for this partnership and plan to pursue complementary add-on acquisitions to broaden the product portfolio and expand solutions for CORE’s customer base,” said Riverside Senior Partner Joe Manning. “In addition, we’ll be supporting CORE’s product development efforts as they expand their software suite that currently serves a variety of higher education programs related to pharmacy, nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistant and medical school, among many others.”

CORE is another example of Riverside’s expertise in investing in and growing education sector companies. Riverside has invested in over 100 such companies since inception in 1988.

Working with Schlachet and Manning on the deal for Riverside were Principal Steve Rice, Vice President Ken Johnson, Senior Associate Nancy Graham and Associate Tom Hillebrecht. Will Davis, Regional Director, Origination, sourced the investment opportunity for Riverside.