Riverside to grow its EdTech platform post-merger

Riverside Company wants to build out its education technology platform after the recent merger of OmniUpdate and Destiny Solutions.

Earlier this week, Riverside acquired OmniUpdate, an internet content management system (CMS) provider for higher education clients. As part of the deal, the firm simultaneously merged OmniUpdate with Destiny Solutions, a provider of student lifecycle management software for higher education administrators serving non-traditional students.

The EdTech platform is fairly new for Riverside, which acquired Destiny Solutions in May 2018.

Riverside wants to continue growing the Camarillo, California-based platform through investments in new product functionality, internal development and add-on acquisitions, Stephen Rice, a principal at Riverside, told Buyouts.

“We are building a platform to help higher education institutions more effectively recruit, retain and educate students across the entire lifecycle, from traditional matriculating students through non-traditional continuing education and lifelong learning students,” Rice said.

The traditional student population is shrinking, and institutions need efficient systems to attract and enroll both traditional and non-traditional students like those who are not of student age, or people with full-time jobs, according to the merger announcement published on the companies’ websites.

Some of OmniUpdate’s and Destiny Solutions’ clients include Wharton County Junior College, Virginia State University, State University of New York: Fashion Institute of Technology, UC Berkley Extension, Temple University, University of Minnesota, among others.

To those and other higher education clients, the combined company offers services that include website management and marketing tools, student lifecycle management, curriculum management, course catalog, payment processing and real-time reporting and business intelligence. The company also providers cloud-based end-to-end student digital engagement software.

Riverside invested in OmniUpdate through its Micro-Cap Fund IV, which closed at its hard cap of $650 million in 2016.  The fund invests in fast-growing North American companies with generally up to $7 million of Ebitda.

Riverside Company, headquartered in New York, invests globally in growing businesses valued at up to $400 million across industries.

Action Item: Contact Jeremy Holland, Riverside’s managing partner who sourced OmniUpdate, at +1-310-499-5080.