Jamie Beaton
Born1995 (age 28–29)
Auckland, New Zealand
Alma mater
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active2013–present
TitleCo-founder and CEO of Crimson Education

Jamie John Beaton (born 1995) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who founded an education mentoring enterprise, Crimson Education, at age 17.

Since founding the firm, Beaton had acquired several other enterprises which operated in partnership with Crimson Consulting. In 2016, the enterprise was valued at over NZ$75 million, with Beaton owning just under half of its shares. In the same year, at age 20, he graduated Harvard University with a master's degree in applied mathematics. In 2022 a capital raise by a venture capital fund valued Crimson at US$550 million.[1]

Early life and education

Beaton was born and raised in Auckland, where his parents were property managers. His mother separated from his father while she was pregnant with Beaton. Beaton's father was not involved in his upbringing. Both parents later remarried.[2] He attended Saint Kentigern School[2] and then went to King's College on an academic scholarship.[3][2] He joined Young Mensa and became its national coordinator, and was the school valedictorian on graduation.[2]

According to Beaton, he then applied to 25 of the top universities in the world and received an offer from each.[4][5] Beaton went on to study and complete six degrees, including a bachelor's degree and master's degree from Harvard University (graduating in 2016) and a DPhil from Oxford University, where his dissertation was titled "Drivers of Student Satisfaction and Student Outcomes in K-12 Online Learning Environments", as a Rhodes Scholar.[6] He took only three years to complete his bachelor's and master's degree in applied mathematics from Harvard, with the typical time to complete the course being five years.[2] He also earned two degrees from Stanford University and he received a master's degree in global affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing.[7] As of 2022 he was partway through his seventh degree, a law degree from Yale Law School.[1][7]

Business

Beaton's business, Crimson Education, helps to prepare students for admission to prestigious universities and was founded in 2013 with co-founders Fangzhou Jiang and Sharndre Kushor.[1][7][8][9] The business attracted investments of approximately NZ$1.4 million. Hedge fund managers Julian Robertson and Chase Coleman, as well as Alex Robertson and Soichiro Fukutake were the primary initial investors.[3] As of 2016, the enterprise was valued at over NZ$75 million with Beaton owning just under half of its shares.[3] Crimson Education is mostly branded on Beaton, using him as a role model to prospective applicants of prestigious universities.[3] Customers of Crimson Education have reported paying tens of thousands of dollars for tutoring services when attempting to gain entry to an Ivy League school.[3]

In 2021, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined the advisory board of the business.[10]

As of 2022, the business had 630 fulltime staff and more than 3,000 tutors and mentors.[7] In the same year a capital raise by a venture capital fund valued the company at US$550 million.[1][11]

Lawsuits

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.[12] In 2018, the University of Auckland filed suit against a Crimson Education subsidiary, alleging breach of copyright. The suit was eventually settled.[12]

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.[12] Beaton had also filed a civil assault claim against the owner of that competitor.[12] When asked for comment by the media, Crimson Education said it was not unusual for companies like Crimson to "experience some commercial litigation" but would not comment on the assault claim filed by Beaton.[12] In May 2022 it was reported that the parties had reached a confidential settlement.[13][14]

Personal life and politics

Beaton was in a relationship with Crimson Education co-founder Sharndre Kushor. Beaton and Kushor met during their secondary education at a Model United Nations conference.[2] Together, they went on to represent New Zealand's model United Nations youth delegation in The Hague.[2][5] As of 2022 they were no longer in a relationship.[1]

After losing the 2020 election, the centre-right New Zealand National Party announced a review into its election campaign, and Beaton sat on the review panel.[15][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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.(subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Olds, Jeremy (4 February 2016). "Business boy wonder Jamie Beaton: Vision transcends age". Stuff. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e 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.
  4. ^ Morgan, Edward (22 February 2022). "How to be accepted into a top US uni, by somebody who has done it". The Australian. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  5. ^ a b Stanton, Kate (17 September 2018). "'People thought we were interns but we were in charge'". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  6. ^ Beaton, J. (2021). Drivers of student satisfaction and student outcomes in K-12 online learning environments (http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text thesis). University of Oxford. ((cite thesis)): External link in |degree= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Sier, Jessica (10 August 2021). "Rudd joins $622m education start-up board after big raising". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Dunkley, Daniel (3 January 2021). "Dark cloud looms over NZ's bright young thing". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Thomas, Dom (23 November 2020). "National Party announces terms of reference for election campaign review". RNZ. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
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