Key and Jain also brought merger and acquisition skills.

“I’ve been involved with the business as an adviser for six years now,” Key told the Herald.

“I’ve seen it go from strength to strength. It’s producing increasing free cashflow with a high margin. It’s got a very strong balance sheet.

“But I really feel as though the best years are ahead for Crimson, so when Jamie and a few of the other investors approached me to become chairman, I just thought it was too good an opportunity to turn down.”

Key said part of his role was to “open doors internationally”. He would use his networks in Asia and China to help grow Crimson’s business in those territories.

But his primary role would be freeing up co-founders Beaton and Fangszhou Jiang from governance duties so they could focus on growth opportunities.

Prompted about going public, Key said: “It’s possible that we would IPO [do an initial public offering], either in Australia or the United States or jointly. But equally, it’s also possible we could find another form of liquidity, or just carry on growing and running the business organically.”

An NZX listing was “not impossible” and would be a nod to the company’s roots, he said.

Trade sale also an option

Speaking on Ryan Bridge TODAY, Key added another possibility: “A trade sale, at some point down the track.”

Two companies that operate in Crimson’s space in China were possible buyers.

“If you take a look at a company like New Oriental or TAL, which are both in China, they’d be worth as much as $20b to $30b, they have lots of cash – I think New Oriental has US$4b on its balance sheet – they’re probably looking for the kind of global reach that we have outside of China,” Key said.

Given the Trump administration’s general stance on China, “down the track” would be the operative phrase.

In the thick of it

The San Francisco-based Jain, who holds a computer engineering degree from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard, had lengthy stints at Google (as vice-president, products) and Uber (as chief product officer) before his current role as president of artificial intelligence (AI) hiring start-up Mercor – which last October raised US$350 million at a US$10b valuation – or five times that of a February raise. He also spent three years on sabbatical as a stay-at-home dad.

“Sundeep [Jain] is in the thick of it right now as the president of a US$10 billion tech company that is in hyper growth. He holds a public company board seat at DoubleVerify [listed on the New York Stock Exchange] and he founded a company and sold it, so he understands entrepreneurial challenges from both sides.

“Sir John’s deep experience in finance, acquisitions, listings, capital raisings and other key transactions will be a tremendous asset to the board, and he will help with our intention to support more countries with their education policies,” Beaton said.

“Sundeep has proven he can leverage AI at massive scale, and guide companies through fundraising and strategic growth – exactly what Crimson needs as it expands internationally. His expertise will complement Crimson’s AI- and platform-driven strategy.”

Jain said: “As a board member, I am interested in a number of elements, furthering Crimson’s tech strategy as AI continues to transform education and cultivating investor relationships and strategic options that work for the group at each stage of growth.”

Already on advisory board

Key was already a member of Crimson’s advisory board, along with former New Zealand Labour Party leader David Cunliffe (who is still on the board) and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (who resigned after he was appointed ambassador to the US).

Clinton-era US Treasury Secretary and former Harvard President Larry Summers – who recently quit OpenAI’s board after revelations he dined with and emailed Jeffrey Epstein – left the advisory board in 2022 after a four-year stint.

Home and away

Crimson has been in expansion mode in New Zealand, including its May 2025 acquisition of Being AI’s school in Takapuna (its first bricks-and-mortar acquisition) and the opening of the Aotearoa Infinite Academy, the first online charter school.

But Beaton said two-thirds of Crimson’s revenue comes from foreign students targeting entry to a US university.

He said 6% of students in Stanford’s undergraduate admissions round earlier this year – including domestic and international students – were counselled by Crimson.

Beaton would not give financials but said more foreign students than ever were trying to access US schools via Crimson, drawn by the economy, Wall St hitting record levels and post-grad opportunities with AI firms.

Trump’s war on Ivy League stalls

US President Donald Trump’s war on Ivy League colleges appears to have stalled. In September, a judge ruled a federal Government bid to cut off US$2.2b in research funding to Harvard was unconstitutional. The President’s bid to block foreign students was also put on hold by the courts.

On February 2, the New York Times reported that Trump had dropped his demand that Harvard pay US$200m to the US Treasury and open blue-collar trade schools to settle his allegation that the university mishandled antisemitism (an allegation Beaton considers politically motivated).

Later the same day, Trump posted to Truth Social that “We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University”.

The President did not make it clear when or how he would seek the US$1b.

“Trump has to talk tough because a lot of his base is anti these top universities,” Beaton said.

“[But] he said on the All In podcast before he got elected that when a young boy grows up in India and gets into MIT and goes to launch their billion-dollar company, Trump wants him to create American jobs, rather than jobs in India. I think behind all of what Trump does, there’s a deep understanding that one of America’s great geopolitical advantages is this talent network where ambitious kids from all corners of the world want to come to the US.”

The top universities were resilient, Beaton said. Harvard’s endowment had grown by US$3.7b to US$56.9b in the year to June 30, 2025.

He added: “Politics lasts for four-year cycles. The decision to go to America involves four to six years or more of training. We see students at the age of 5 in Dubai and 6 in Singapore beginning to prepare their journey to get to the US.”

Key ‘shocked’ at surprising source of growth

“When we first saw the comments out of the White House, I genuinely thought it would have some impact on the business, and I’ve been very surprised that it hasn’t,” Key said.

International students were still keen to get into US schools. But, more, the former Prime Minister had been “shocked” at the surge in Crimson’s growth within the US – where the Kiwi firm now bills itself as the largest domestic college counselling player. Overall, it says it has had a “market-leading” 1490 offers to the Ivy League colleges and 3254 offers to the top 20 universities.

“We just had a huge event in Florida,” Key said.

“What’s happening in the United States is that the applications-to-admissions rate is really falling. There’s just a very large number of applicants chasing fewer and fewer places, effectively.”

When Crimson was founded in 2013, NYU was admitting 40% of students who applied. Last year, 7.3% were admitted. At Johns Hopkins, the ratio had dropped from 15% to 5%.

“We also saw a big boost after the Wall Street Journal article,” Key said.

In October 2024, the Journal splashed Crimson on its front page, with a Beaton profile headlined “The Guru who says he can get your 11-year-old into Harvard” remaining on its home page for days.

$1 billion valuation

Crimson raised $68m in late 2024 in a Series D round at a $1b valuation.

The raise was led by Movac, which chipped in $25m – the Wellington-based venture capital firm’s largest-ever investment. General partner Mark Vivian joined Crimson’s board.

The raise was also supported by Auckland-based Icehouse Ventures, Sydney-based Heal Partners, US News (the American media firm that publishes the Best Colleges rankings), Sydney-based Five Sigma and Boston’s HighSage Ventures.

Beaton and his mother Paula Beaton – who raised him as a working solo mother – have the largest Crimson holding at 17.2%, followed by the Robertson Foundation with a 13.7% stake.

Key (0.5%), Rudd and Jain also hold micro-stakes in the firm.

There were no new financials offered this week, but last year Crimson said its all-time revenue had reached $927m by June 2025, with $300m earned in the past 12 months.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.