Kiwi scaleup Crimson Education swots up on NZ$67 million Series D

Kiwi editech Crimson Education has raised NZ$67 million (A$60m) Series D that has seen the scaleup’s valuation jump by nearly 40% in just two years.

The raise was previously reported in July, but the size of the round was not disclosed.

It was led by NZ investor Movac, with support from existing backers HEAL Partners, Icehouse Ventures, US News and HighSage Ventures, as well as US fund Five Sigma. The raise values the company at more than NZ$1 billion (A$910m).

Sydney-based private equity fund HEAL previously invested US$10m (A$15m) at a $US460m (A$695m) valuation in September 2022.

The Auckland scaleup’s cap table also includes former NZ and Australian PMs Sir John Key and Kevin Rudd, K1W1, and Tiger Global, and its founder, the late Julian Robertson, who invested in Crimson in 2016 in a A$39.5m round at a $205 million valuation.

Movac partner Mark Vivian and Martin Dalgleish from HEAL join the Crimson board following the Series D.

The edtech platform was founded in 2013 by serial student Jamie Beaton, Sharndre Kushor, and Fangzhou Jiang. It offers college admissions consulting and tutoring  especially targeting elite US Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT, as well as Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.

It has 22 offices across five continents and has also acquired several edtech rivals over the past decade, including NumberWorks’nWords, Revision Village, and Collegewise. 

The business typically works with its students over several years to develop a custom plan for everything from extracurricular activities to academic acceleration, and preparing for the college admissions process.

Five years ago, the business launched Crimson Global Academy (CGA), an internationally accredited online school offering a range of qualifications, including the International GSCEs, British International A Levels, the US Diploma Program, and Advanced Placement (AP). CGA has 1,700 student enrolments from over 60 countries and more than 200 teachers. 

Crimson’s annual revenue for FY2024 exceeded US$100 million (A$150m).

Cofounder and CEO Jamie Beaton has nine degrees from around the world, including from Harvard, an MBA from Stanford, Juris Doctor from Yale, PhD from Oxford and most recently, in quant finance from Princeton. He’s now studying international relations at Kings College London.

Beaton said the funds will be used to expand Crimson’s offerings.

“We want to continue to grow our role as the critical partner in a child’s education, from academic tutoring, to high school, extracurricular development, university candidacy building, to providing access to leading careers, informative research, and leadership opportunities throughout the different phases of their journey,” he said.

HEAL partner Martin Dalgleish said they’d seen “tremendous growth and maturation” in Crimson since they first invested in June 2021,

“With the success of CGA, Crimson has shown that the market size is even larger than we’d initially assumed,” he said.

“We’re excited for Crimson to become the global platform of choice for ambitious students to achieve their goals.”