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]
Legal disputes
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
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ a b "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
- ^ Quintana, Chris; McCoy, Kevin (8 December 2019). "Crimson Education accused of using untrained tutors and operating ghost offices". USA Today.
- ^ "Kiwi unicorn Crimson Education seeks capital partner, bankers up". Australian Financial Review. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.