Orion Santé

What Orion Santé does

Orion Santé is a French continuing professional development (CPD) provider headquartered in Marseille, founded in 2003 by two liberal nurses, Marcel Affergan and William Livingston. The company trains healthcare professionals across France — primarily Independent Liberal Nurses (IDEL), France's largest ambulatory clinical workforce, alongside physiotherapists, doctors, pharmacists, and podiatrists — across 130+ cities. It operates a multi-format training platform spanning in-person sessions, e-learning modules, virtual classrooms, and hybrid programs, delivered against a catalog of more than 30 themes covering NGAP billing, vaccination, cancer care, wound care, therapeutic patient education (ETP), blood sugar monitoring, AFGSU2 emergency certifications, death certification, and newer topics including telehealth and artificial intelligence in nursing.

The training portfolio is anchored in France's regulated CPD funding ecosystem. The majority of program volume is financed through public mechanisms — ANDPC (Agence Nationale du DPC), FIF-PL (Fonds Interprofessionnel de Formation des Professionnels Libéraux), and CPF (Compte Personnel de Formation) — and Orion holds the Qualiopi certification and ANDPC approvals required to access that public funding. Two higher-margin product lines operate outside the DPC channel: "Cultural" international formations delivered in partnership with Verdie Voyages, and "Prestige" premium self-funded courses. A digital subsidiary, Orion Digital, supports the e-learning and platform infrastructure. The company also partnered with Biotic Phocea to add dermopigmentation training, expanding the curriculum into aesthetic-clinical content adjacent to nursing practice.

In December 2023, Orion Santé completed a €16 million funding round to support growth, and leadership transitioned to Robin Affergan (son of co-founder Marcel Affergan) as PDG. Co-founder William Livingston passed away in January 2026. The company is strategically positioning its curriculum around the Arrêté du 26 juin 2026, a major regulatory requalification of nursing acts in France, which is expected to generate a step-function increase in CPD demand among the IDEL cohort — Orion's primary customer base.

Name

Orion Santé

Legal name

Orion Santé

Website

https://orionsante.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Orion Santé is a Marseille-based French continuing professional development provider founded in 2003, training independent liberal nurses and allied health professionals across 130+ cities via in-person, e-learning, and hybrid formats, financed primarily through ANDPC, FIF-PL, and CPF public funding mechanisms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Continuing Education for Healthcare Professionals

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (61143)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Providers (EDABALAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Nursing Assistant (CNA) & Patient Care Technician (PCT) (EDAOAJAB)

Keywords

• Healthcare training services
• Continuing professional development
• Nursing education programs
• DPC funded training
• Medical professional training

Headquarters

HQ city

Marseille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. DPC (Développement Professionnel Continu) funding: Government-funded training for healthcare professionals where training costs are fully covered and professionals receive indemnization payments (e.g., 418€ for vaccination training, 532€ for cancer courses). Revenue comes from ANDPC (Agence Nationale du DPC) reimbursements.
2. FIF-PL (Fonds Interprofessionnel de Formation des Professions Libérales) funding: Training funded through the professional training fund for liberal healthcare professionals. Orion handles the administrative process including rights evaluation, dossier preparation, and reimbursement management.
3. CPF (Compte Personnel de Formation): Personal training accounts allowing healthcare professionals to access certified training programs funded through their individual CPF credits.
4. Cultural and Prestige formations (self-funded): Premium training experiences in exceptional locations (travel-based training in France and internationally) and prestige courses at luxury venues, financed personally by participants. These formations combine professional development with cultural/travel experiences.
5. Webinars and digital content: Free and paid educational content including webinar replays, podcasts, and resource kits for healthcare professionals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Orion Santé provides continuing professional development training for healthcare professionals in France, primarily liberal nurses (IDEL), physiotherapists, general practitioners, pharmacists, and podiatrists. The company delivers training across four formats—in-person, e-learning, virtual classroom, and hybrid—covering over 30 clinical themes including NGAP billing, vaccination, cancer care, wound care, palliative care, and therapeutic patient education. Training is funded through French public mechanisms (DPC, FIF-PL, CPF) with Orion Santé handling all administrative procedures on behalf of learners.

Product overview

Orion Santé is a continuing education organization for healthcare professionals founded in 2003, specializing in training for liberal nurses (IDEL), physiotherapists, doctors, pharmacists, and podologists. The company operates a multi-format training platform delivering courses through four core methods: in-person training (Présentiel), e-learning, virtual classroom (Classe Virtuelle), and hybrid formats (Autres). The training portfolio includes specialized clinical courses such as NGAP pricing/coding, vaccination, cancer care, wound management, palliative care, and telehealth, as well as premium offerings like cultural training trips abroad and prestige training in luxury venues. The platform supports multiple financing mechanisms including DPC, FIF-PL, and CPF. Orion Santé also offers webinars, podcasts, and educational resources, with a related entity Orion Digital providing digital/tech training experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Orion Digital: Digital training platform offering 100% video-based and immersive training experiences for healthcare professionals.

Products and services

• Formation Présentiel (In-Person Training) In-person training sessions conducted over 2 consecutive days, focusing on deepening knowledge through group discussion and experience sharing for healthcare professionals.
• Formation E-learning Distance learning platform allowing healthcare professionals to train at their own pace via computer, smartphone, or tablet with dynamic and interactive content.
• Formation Classe Virtuelle (Virtual Classroom) Live video training sessions with expert instructors and real-time learner interaction allowing healthcare professionals to participate from home.
• Formation Hybride (Hybrid Training) Hybrid training combining multiple methods (in-person, e-learning, virtual class) and formats for theory-practice integration in small groups.
• NGAP Formation (Nomenclature Générale des Actes Professionnels) Training on nursing care pricing rules, act accumulation, exercise security, and billing practices with over 30 pricing exercises, designed for liberal nurses.
• Vaccination: Savoir Prescrire Training enabling nurses to prescribe vaccines for persons 11 years and older, covering vaccine-preventable diseases, traceability, and vaccination schedule recommendations.
• Cancer du Poumon Formation Training on lung cancer prevention, early detection, patient care pathways, and home-based oncology nursing care.
• Cancers du Sein Formation Comprehensive training on breast cancer prevention, screening, patient education, and supportive care including palliative care and sequelae management.
• Formations Culturelles (Cultural Training) Premium training programs combining in-person instruction with international travel experiences to destinations including Egypt, Zimbabwe, Philippines, Kerala, Bali, and others, self-funded by participants.
• Formations Prestiges (Prestige Training) Premium training sessions held in exceptional venues across French cities including Bayonne, Nice, Annecy, Paris, Montpellier, Nantes, Marseille, Cabourg, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Lille, and Lyon.
• AFGSU Niveau 2 (Emergency Care Training) Formation aux Gestes et Soins d'Urgence niveau 2 covering emergency response skills for healthcare professionals.
• Intelligence Artificielle & Infirmier Formation Training on artificial intelligence applications in nursing and healthcare delivery for healthcare professionals.
• Santé Numérique & Télésanté (Digital Health and Telehealth) Digital health and telehealth awareness training covering telemedicine best practices for healthcare professionals.
• Certificat de Décès (Death Certificate) Training enabling liberal nurses to issue death certificates under the new legal framework applicable to them.
• Education Thérapeutique du Patient (ETP) 40h 40-hour therapeutic patient education training for healthcare professionals.
• Bilan de Soins Infirmiers (BSI) Training on nursing assessment procedures and documentation following convention amendments.

Quantifiable outcome

• DPC indemnization of 418€ for vaccination training
• +3 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Biotic PhoceaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 December 2023Partnership with Biotic Phocea for dermopigmentation training. Dermopigmentation reparatrix is now reimbursed by French health insurance (Sécurité Sociale) since February 2025, creating new training opportunities for nurses.
• Orion DigitalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRelated company offering 100% video-based immersive training experiences. Led by Robin Affergan (also PDG of Orion Santé). Provides digital learning innovation complementing Orion Santé's traditional training offerings.
• FIF-PL (Fonds Interprofessionnel de Formation des Professions Libérales)coreOthersOfficial professional training fund for liberal professions in France. Collects approximately 100€/year from healthcare professionals via URSSAF and provides funding for continuing education.
• ANDPC (Agence Nationale du DPC)coreOthersNational agency responsible for overseeing and funding Continuing Professional Development for all healthcare professionals in France.
• Verdié VoyagesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTravel partner for cultural training programs. Handles registration for international training formations that combine professional development with travel experiences.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• AFNOR Compétences: French standards body with a large professional-training arm and Qualiopi certification across healthcare, quality and management tracks. Competes for the same French continuing-education budget and professional audiences.
• MedBridge: Healthcare professional education platform specializing in physical therapy, nursing and allied-health CPD with strong video and mobile delivery. Direct peer in HCP-focused e-learning, certification and outcomes measurement.
• Relias: US-headquartered healthcare-specific learning and compliance platform serving hospitals, payers and individual practitioners. Closest international analog: paid CPD/certification catalog with multi-format delivery and recurring revenue.
• Up (formerly Demos Group): Major French professional-training group with a healthcare CPD track and Qualiopi-certified programs across multiple professions. Direct competitor in the corporate and continuing-education market that Orion targets, with similar financing administration services.
• Orsys: Established French professional-training firm offering in-person, e-learning and virtual classroom formats to enterprises and individuals, with healthcare tracks. Comparable catalog breadth, multi-format delivery, and Qualiopi positioning.

Broad incumbents

• HealthStream: US-listed healthcare workforce and compliance learning platform serving hospitals and healthcare systems. Comparable recurring-revenue CPD model, though anchored to enterprise provider contracts rather than individual practitioners.
• Wolters Kluwer Health (Lippincott): Healthcare information and continuing-education business built around Lippincott, Ovid and journal programs. Wider portfolio of clinical references than Orion, but competes for the same healthcare CPD wallet share.
• Elsevier Healthcare (RELX): Global healthcare publisher and CPD provider with broad clinical content and platforms like ClinicalKey. Overlaps with Orion on healthcare professional learning, but operates at far larger scale and across many more specialties.

Emerging players

• CEGEDIM: French health-tech group providing physician and pharmacy software plus training/certification modules. Emerging overlap with Orion through CPD offerings for doctors and pharmacists and shared clients.

Others

• Doctolib: France's dominant practitioner scheduling and telehealth platform serving the same liberal-nurse, GP and pharmacist customer base. Not a direct training competitor, but a natural distribution and partnership surface for Orion's CPD catalog.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Orion Santé