After twenty years and one global pandemic, our experience has taught us that we go further, faster, together.
It takes a collaborative and holistic approach to support post-secondary partners to reach your students where they are at, with what they need for success. Delivering on our promises starts with large networks of the right leaders – in government, post-secondary, industry, and stakeholders – who, by working together, can adapt the systems that support holistic innovation of career-readiness delivery so that it reflects the change we need in the world. Our software and data serve a more important mission, and we intend to serve the collective good. This environment has taught us how interconnected we are – globally. To work toward a future of fulfilled potential, we need to work worldwide to support the potential fulfillment of all students and graduates, at the post-secondary level, in every corner of our global community.
We are very excited to share the news of Symplicity’s acquisition of Orbis, which will expand our impact, your impact, on the lives of students and graduates, worldwide.
Read our full announcement here or below.
As always, Orbis remains, well, Orbis! This change will not change how we work together in this community but will serve to spread the influence of the work we’re doing together. With Symplicity, we meet like-minds who share in our mission, vision, and values and can elevate and speed up the growth of our collective work, at scale, and in far-reaching corners of the globe.
For questions specific to Orbis, please connect with Emily Eley or Cameron Ballantyne.
Emily Eley, Executive Director, Orbis: eeley@orbiscommunications.com
Cameron Ballantyne, Co-Founder, Orbis: cballantyne@orbiscommunications.com
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ARLINGTON, Va., December 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Symplicity Corporation, the global leader of student employability and engagement solutions and an H.I.G. Capital portfolio company, has announced the acquisition of Orbis Communications, the most trusted experiential learning solution for post-secondary institutions in Canada. With the acquisition, Symplicity expands its market share of universities and operations in the country, and offers a more expansive employer network to Canadian universities.
With over 20 years of experience, Symplicity is the leading SaaS-based platform focused on student employability, accessibility and wellness. With more than 2,000 colleges and universities using Symplicity’s platform, across more than 35 countries, Symplicity partners with institutions and employers to fuse student employability and engagement strategies with its technology platform for higher education students, career centers and university departments.
A market leader in experiential learning and outcomes technology in Canada, Orbis has an active network of more than 100 institutions, 350,000 employers and 1 million students. Headquartered in Hamilton, Canada, its platform connects post-secondary institutions, companies and candidates, bringing opportunities and students together, as well as facilitating the management of experiential learning programs.
At a time when there is both high unemployment and businesses are struggling to hire, tighter integration of higher education and career services will play a key role in bridging that gap between college to career. Critical to this integration is work-based learning and experiences outside of the classroom to build essential skills and competencies.
“If there is anything the post-pandemic world of work has shown, it is that it’s not just about jobs—there are endless job boards out there for students. It’s about preparing students for careers through meaningful experiences with work projects and skill development pathways based on the real needs of employers,” said Matthew Small, Symplicity President and CEO. “This acquisition will further enhance the combined company’s rapid growth, by significantly expanding our experiential learning capabilities globally so that we can help address the skill shortage at scale.”
“By joining Symplicity, we are aligning with an organization that shares our values and our goals,” said Cameron Ballantyne, Founding Partner at Orbis. “We look forward to continuing to provide the solutions that bind industry, post-secondary institutions, government and students in a way that meets them where they are today with what they need for tomorrow.”
The acquisition will also significantly expand Symplicity’s global network of 6 million early talent candidates and 500,000 active employers. Symplicity facilitated more than 450,000 internship placements and processed 10 million job applications in the last 12 months.
About Symplicity
Symplicity is a global leader in student employability and engagement software solutions to more than 2,000 colleges and universities. The Company’s SaaS platform supports the full student experience, including early talent recruiting, accessibility, wellness and behavioral intervention. These solutions empower higher education clients to enhance a student’s ability to stay in school, graduate and secure their first job. Learn more at www.symplicity.com.
About Orbis
Orbis develops experiential learning and recruitment software solutions, unpacks data, and drives mindsets that lead to institutional growth through student and graduate potential fulfillment. Through Outcome, Outcome Campus Connect, and Mindset we have supported post-secondary institutions and employers to drive the success of over 1,000,000 students and graduates and 350,000 businesses. We believe experience matters and have over twenty years of it.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global alternative assets investment firm with over $45 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.
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