The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Aug 2019

Crimson (founded 2013) began as Crimson Consulting and has expanded into a mid-sized global education-services provider offering college counselling, extra-school tutoring and the online Crimson Global Academy. The group’s online high school launched just over two years ago and now accounts for about 20% of group revenue. College counselling remains the largest revenue contributor, with more than 95% of that revenue from markets outside New Zealand (notably China, Korea, Singapore and the US). The Herald reports annual revenue reached $110m for the year to July after roughly 65% growth in each of the two prior years, and the company employs about 600 full-time staff globally. Crimson has funded growth through capital raises (having no debt) and has raised and deployed more than $100m to date. Leadership is pursuing a technology-enabled, global expansion to serve learners from about age five to 21 and to build long, sticky customer relationships. Crimson Education was reported to have received an investment led by Chow Tai Fook (CTF) Education Group. The article identifies Chow Tai Fook as Hong Kong-based. The item appears in a China digest that also notes Beijing-based AI startup Infimind raised $14 million in a Series A. The report does not disclose the size of the Crimson transaction or the financing instrument. No additional investors, deal terms, operating metrics, or future plans for Crimson were provided in the article. Further company background and financial details were not included in the item. Crimson Education operates a combined technology and human-tutor service that maps students to top university targets and prescribes academic and extracurricular steps to improve admission chances. The product includes proprietary algorithms, an app, a network of 1,500 tutors, a popular YouTube channel, and a Q&A board; it also runs a philanthropy arm to provide financial aid. Crimson reports 20,000 students have used its platform, with more than 60 Ivy League offers, 160+ offers to Oxford, Cambridge and other competitive schools, and over 500 successful applications to top-50 U.S. universities. Pricing varies by program and stage: average revenue per U.S. student is $5,000–$10,000; tutoring starts at $80 per hour and younger-program modules are priced at $2,000. About 15% of students receive some form of financial aid. The company is expanding internationally, targeting growth in Korea with the latest funding and preparing another round to double down on the U.S. market.