IRSS

Who owns IRSS?

IRSS is currently owned by Ekkio Capital through Ekkio Capital V (2022 vintage), since 2023.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-06-10

About IRSS

IRSS is a French vocational-training group that delivers short professional courses across sport, health and early-childhood professions, operating both as a private training provider and as an apprenticeship center (CFA). Its programs span one to three years and are organized around three streams, IRSS Sport for careers in sport and fitness, IRSS Sante for early-childhood, medical-secretarial and health-and-social roles, and an IRSS Bachelor Management track dedicated to sports management. The group trains more than 2,500 learners a year and reports revenue of around EUR 10 million, positioning itself in high-employability fields with a stated completion rate near 85 percent. Historically concentrated in western France, IRSS now operates campuses in cities including Angers, Nantes, Rennes, Bordeaux, Poitiers, Perpignan and Paris. IRSS was founded in Cholet in 1985 and built up over nearly four decades into a multi-site training network focused on sport, health and childcare vocations. In March 2023 Ekkio Capital acquired the group through a management buyout, investing via its Ekkio Capital V fund, with the stated aim of turning IRSS into the French leader in sports and health training through external growth in a still highly fragmented sector. Ekkio Capital remains the active shareholder and IRSS is still listed as a current portfolio company; no exit or secondary transaction has been recorded. The 2023 buyout was structured around a buy-and-build thesis, and under Ekkio Capital ownership IRSS has combined organic site openings with its first acquisition. For the 2023-2024 academic year the group inaugurated a new campus in Paris, extending a footprint previously centered on western France. It then completed its first external-growth deal with the takeover of Neosup, a Perpignan school of higher education for health professions founded in 1929 that trains around 300 learners a year in optics, nutrition and medical imaging, broadening the group's higher-education offer. These moves lifted IRSS to a presence in roughly 14 cities and reinforced its positioning across high-employment sport and health training segments.

Ownership journey

IRSS was founded in Cholet in 1985 and built up over nearly four decades into a multi-site training network focused on sport, health and childcare vocations. In March 2023 Ekkio Capital acquired the group through a management buyout, investing via its Ekkio Capital V fund, with the stated aim of turning IRSS into the French leader in sports and health training through external growth in a still highly fragmented sector. Ekkio Capital remains the active shareholder and IRSS is still listed as a current portfolio company; no exit or secondary transaction has been recorded.

Under PE ownership

The 2023 buyout was structured around a buy-and-build thesis, and under Ekkio Capital ownership IRSS has combined organic site openings with its first acquisition. For the 2023-2024 academic year the group inaugurated a new campus in Paris, extending a footprint previously centered on western France. It then completed its first external-growth deal with the takeover of Neosup, a Perpignan school of higher education for health professions founded in 1929 that trains around 300 learners a year in optics, nutrition and medical imaging, broadening the group's higher-education offer. These moves lifted IRSS to a presence in roughly 14 cities and reinforced its positioning across high-employment sport and health training segments.