Kiwi education consultancy Crimson strikes deal

See more: Crimson’s full-blooded valuation draws scepticism (Oct 7)

Crimson Consulting, the New Zealand-founded education consultancy that helps students win entry to the world's elite universities, has merged with not-for-profit e-learning platform Campus Link.

Campus Link founder Anne Gaze has taken a shareholding in Crimson and will take on the role of chief executive of Crimson Consulting's New Zealand operations. Her company will continue offering academic support nationwide to Kiwi secondary students from $50 a day under the original brand.

Crimson was founded three years ago by Jamie Beaton and Sharndre Kushor and the 21-year-olds have since raised more than $7 million from international hedge funds managers, including Julian Robertson from Wall St heavyweight Tiger Management, which Beaton works for while studying at Harvard and running Crimson.

It has been on the acquisition path and now includes a number of brands – Crimson Consulting, Campus Link, CrimsonHub, Ivy+Education, Play Atlantic, Medview and UniTutor. The funds it raised are mainly being used to push into China and build the software engineering capability that drives the online learning platform. It has 13,000 students enrolled in programmes and 1000 tutors.

Gaze set up Campus Link in 2011 after finding it difficult to find affordable tutoring for her son. Her aim has been to provide low-cost revision courses that all secondary students struggling with particular subjects can afford.

Campus Link tutored  7000 students last year, covering the New Zealand educational standard NCEA, the International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge syllabuses. Its youth-led, e-based learning services will now join the wider Crimson Education Group of programmes, including academic and leadership tutoring and mentor programmes in several countries.

People often criticise Crimson because they assume its client base is highly skewed to affluent families, Mr Beaton said. Crimson's services range from free to up to $10,000 plus packages.

"Our partnership with Campus Link is a positive step towards realising our mission, to bring highly effective, affordable and personalised education to all students and to equip them with tools to succeed in their tertiary studies and career trajectories, regardless of their location or financial standing," he said.

(BusinessDesk)