US-based online education platform developer MasterClass secured $35m on Tuesday in a series C round featuring subsidiaries of media firm Bloomberg and telecommunications company Novel Group.
Bloomberg Beta and Novel TMT invested alongside venture capital firm IVP, which led the round, GSV Acceleration, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Javelin Venture Partners, Advancit Capital and private investors Yan-David Erlich, Sam Lessin and Matthew Rutler.
Founded in 2015, MasterClass offers paying users online video lessons by celebrity specialists such as chef Gordon Ramsay, tennis player Serena Williams, actor Dustin Hoffman and performer Usher together with interactive exercises and course materials.
David Rogier, co-founder and CEO of MasterClass, said: “We launched MasterClass with the belief that everyone should be able to learn from the best and a hope that if we could do that we had a chance to make the world just a little more equal. This round of funding will enable us to accelerate the sharing of knowledge.”
MasterClass closed a $15m series B round in February 2016 led by NEA and backed by Bloomberg Beta, Novel TMT, talent agency William Morris Endeavor, which invested through its WME Ventures unit, Advancit Capital, Downey Ventures and various angel investors.
The company has now raised $56.4m altogether, its earlier funding coming from investors including Javelin Venture Partners and Harrison Metal. Eric Liaw and Roseanne Wincek from IVP will join its board of directors in conjunction with the latest round.