Strengthening Companies

PE Portfolio Company Universal SmartComp Featured

On Monday, the Washington, Pennsylvania Observer-Reporter profiled Universal SmartComp – one of the featured video case studies on the Private Equity at Work website – in a piece titled, “An entrepreneur’s vision.” The article features Universal SmartComp CEO Dr. Shannon Vissman, who came up with the idea for his business in 1999 on a card table in his basement. Dr. Vissman credits its partnership with The Riverside Company as a key to Universal SmartComp’s success.

While Vissman obtained traditional bank financing when he was launching Universal SmartComp, he said transitioning the company to operate on a national scale has been accomplished with the equity infusion from Riverside. In 2007, Universal’s revenue stood at $35.4 million, and grew to $163.8 million in 2011.

“Their financial expertise has been very helpful to us,” he said, adding that Riverside “isn’t just running the company by the numbers” but letting Universal use its expertise in physical medicine to do what it has always done best.

Calling the company’s long-term vision “limitless,” Dr. Vissman says that Universal SmartComp will only continue to grow. “We’d like to double the size of employees within the next 12 to 18 months,” he told Observer-Reporter journalist Mike Bradwell.

Click here (or go to “Success Stories”) to watch the Private Equity at Work video case study featuring Dr. Vissman and the Universal SmartComp team.