The funding deal adds Mitsui to Synergis's investors.
Synergis Education, which provides turnkey solutions to its nine university clients, such as finding qualified students and co-developing curriculum, has secured $5m in funding. It follows the company’s October 2013 series A round of $33m.
The cash injection adds Mitsui to the company’s investors, which up until this point had consisted of University Venture Fund I, an investment fund run by students at Utah University, Brigham Young University and Westminster College, Bertelsmann, KGaA and the University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco).
Synergis plans on using the new funding to expand its partnerships with current universities and grow its list of clients to include more higher education institutions. Currently, its university partners include Cornerstone University, Gwynedd Mercy University, Cardinal Stritch University, Warner Pacific College,
Averett University, University of Southern California, Samuel Merritt University, Gratz College and Harrisburg University. Its partnership with Gwynedd Mercy University was a first step towards expanding into healthcare, with the deal focusing on offering pre-licensure bachelor’s degrees in nursing.
Mitsui is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co, a so-called “sogo shosha” (a general trading company) based in Tokyo. It has more than $57bn in revenue and $4bn net income, and owns several healthcare operations, including hospitals. Synergis is looking at using this expertise as it gains the company as an investor. It is also aiming to hire more staff, as it has already grown from three employees in 2011 to more than 150 employees today, and is expecting another 50 by the end of 2015.
Amid Avnet, director of corporate and business development at Mitsui, said: “The number of doctors, nurses, physical therapists – you name it – that will be needed in the US is just going to continue to grow over the next few years as access to health care has expanded via Obamacare. We are going to see a continuing trend of people looking to get certified in health sciences and health care management and all those various areas.”
