Crimson Education

Crimson Education is a for-profit college-prep company headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand.

The business specializes in providing college-prep services focused toward students gaining admission at elite universities including Ivy-league institutions. It charges students between $2k - $20k for its tutoring services aimed at obtaining entry at top international universities.[1][2]

USA Today and the NZ news website Stuff has accused the company of running 'ghost offices' and relying on untrained tutors.[2][3]

As of 2024 the company is privately held, with a post-money valuation of around NZ $1B following a 2022 funding round.[4]

The company is heavily branded around Jamie Beaton, one of its founders, who is notable in part for having obtained a remarkably large number of credentials from various elite international universities.[1] NZ news website The Spinoff reported upon push-back Crimson received from Rhodes Scholars after Beaton attempted to recruit them to work for Crimson.[5]

History

The business was founded in 2013 by New Zealander then-teenagers Jamie Beaton, Fangzhou Jiang, and Sharndre Kushor.[6][7][8][9] The business was initially conceived as a college-prep consultancy. It grew substantially after an initial funding round of NZ$1.4m raised from Julian Robertson Chase Coleman, and Alex Robertson (all associated with Tiger Management); as well as from Japan tutoring billionaire Soichiro Fukutake.[1]

In 2016 funding round implied a post-money valuation of NZ$75m, with Beaton the largest shareholder.[1]

The Australian Financial Review has reported that, as of 2022, the business has 630 full-time staff and around 3000 tutors and mentors.[7] In the same year, a post-money valuation of US$550 million was obtained after a capital raise.[6][10]

In 2017, Crimson Education was involved in a breach of contract litigation with a former employee. The matter was eventually subject to a confidential settlement.[11] In 2018, the University of Auckland filed a suit against a Crimson Education subsidiary, alleging breach of copyright. The suit was eventually settled.[11]

In January 2021 it was reported that a $10-million High Court lawsuit had been filed by a competitor of Crimson involving allegations of employee poaching.[11] Beaton had also filed a civil assault claim against the owner of that competitor.[11] In May 2022, media reported that the parties reached a confidential settlement.[12][13]

References
  1. Nippert, Matt (4 February 2016). "Meet Jamie Beaton, the 20 year-old worth $40 million". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  2. "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  3. Quintana, Chris; McCoy, Kevin (8 December 2019). "Crimson Education accused of using untrained tutors and operating ghost offices". USA Today.
  4. "Kiwi unicorn Crimson Education seeks capital partner, bankers up". Australian Financial Review. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  5. Slade, Ollie Neas and Maria (2019-12-11). "Rhodes Scholars are meant to serve humanity. Crimson Education wanted them to tutor wealthy students". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  6. Nippert, Matt (16 October 2022). "Billion-dollar growth: Jamie Beaton's Crimson claims unicorn status". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  7. Patten, Sally (14 September 2022). "Meet the 27-year-old with degrees from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  8. Skoric, Nikolina (24 October 2017). "Meet The 22-Year-Old CEO Who Used Facebook To Build A $200M Business". GQ. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  9. Bolton, Robert (15 October 2019). "Meet the 24-year-old CEO who just raised $20m". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  10. Andrew, Michael (1 May 2022). "Jamie Beaton's rules for life". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  11. Dunkley, Daniel (3 January 2021). "Dark cloud looms over NZ's bright young thing". Stuff. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  12. Mace, Will (2 May 2022). "Crimson and Eurekly settle legal claims". National Business Review. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  13. Young, Victoria (9 May 2022). "Inside Crimson's latest secret settlement". Business Desk. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
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