MasterClass Closes $35m Series C Funding Round
Summary
MasterClass, a San Francisco, CA-based premier online education platform, closed a a $35m Series C funding.The round was led by IVP with participation from new investors GSV Acceleration and Sam Lessin and existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Javelin Venture Partners, Bloomberg Beta, Advancit Capital, Novel TMT, Yan-David Erlich, and Matthew Rutler (MX Investments).The company, which has raised $56.4m to date, plans to use the funds to accelerate class development, expand the roster of instructors, and build out the team.Established in 2015 and led by CEO David Rogier, MasterClass provides online classes from world-renowned instructors such as Christina Aguilera (singing), Kevin Spacey (acting), Usher (performance), Gordon Ramsay (cooking), Serena Williams (tennis), James Patterson (writing), Dustin Hoffman (acting), Werner Herzog (filmmaking), Aaron Sorkin (screenwriting), Reba McEntire (country music), Hans Zimmer (film scoring), and Deadmau5 (electronic music production).Most recently, the company announced pre-enrollment for Shonda Rhimes (writing for television), Frank Gehry (design and architecture), and Steve Martin (comedy).