MasterClass operates a subscription streaming platform providing access to 100+ instructors and classes across Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Each class features about 20 video lessons averaging roughly 10 minutes apiece, and content streams on mobile, tablet, desktop and major TV platforms including Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku. Launched in 2015 by founder and CEO David Rogier and headquartered in San Francisco, the company plans to use its new capital to increase content production and pursue international expansion. MasterClass also intends to launch a new Enterprise business and continue growing its workforce. Financially, the company raised a $225M Series F and previously closed a $100M Series E a year earlier, bringing total funding to date to more than $475M. The company’s product and growth initiatives are the stated focuses for the new capital. MasterClass offers documentary-style, celebrity-taught classes (called “masters”) across topics, with lessons broken into 20–30 minute videos and downloadable workbooks plus community hubs. The platform has produced about 85 classes featuring high-profile instructors such as Gordon Ramsay, Serena Williams, Steph Curry, Anna Wintour and Neil deGrasse Tyson. MasterClass charges a $180 annual subscription; subscriptions accounted for 80% of revenue in 2018 and now represent 100% of the company’s revenue. The company said sales more than doubled last year but declined to share more recent usage metrics tied to the coronavirus period. MasterClass positions its content at the intersection of entertainment and education and emphasizes production quality over interactive instruction. It is experimenting with formats including audio-only, short form and augmented reality and plans to use capital to produce new classes and ramp production to roughly one class per week. MasterClass offers celebrity-taught online classes across subjects such as tennis and photography. The company currently offers 39 classes and plans to exceed 50 by the end of the year, and it released its first mobile app this April after growing primarily via desktop. MasterClass introduced a $180 annual subscription granting access to all lessons; subscriptions account for 80% of the company’s revenue. Sales more than doubled from 2016 to 2017 and were on track to double again in the current year. CEO David Rogier said the company is on pace to match Udacity and Coursera in revenue, though he declined to disclose MasterClass’s financials or valuation. The company plans to use capital to expand internationally and to recruit additional celebrity instructors. San Francisco-based MasterClass previously raised $54.5 million in venture capital. MasterClass produces hours-long, production-quality online courses taught by well-known practitioners (e.g., Serena Williams, Gordon Ramsay, Christina Aguilera) and offers community access and instructor Q&As. Courses are sold individually at about $90, and the company shares revenue with instructors. Leadership says learners span income, education and geographic cohorts, and that for up to 80% of students it is their first online class; the company did not disclose overall user or revenue figures. MasterClass works with instructors to produce and develop each program. The team plans to add more classes, hire more employees, and expand beyond arts into a “business” category with tutorials from entrepreneurs and visionaries. The company operates offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. MasterClass is an online education platform that sells video courses taught by high-profile professionals and celebrities. The site charges $90 per class and currently features offerings from Dustin Hoffman, Serena Williams, James Patterson, Usher, and a newly released Kevin Spacey class. Cofounders Aaron Rasmussen and David Rogier started assembling talent and filming in 2013 and currently employ 22 people. The company says it has "substantially more" registered users than the 30,000 figure reported previously but declines to disclose exact user counts. Management plans to film 10–15 additional classes in 2016, with some releases delayed by post-production. Several teaching talents, including Spacey and Usher, also participate as investors in the business.

Total raised

$455M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Series F

Latest activity

May 2021