Masterschool, a network of tech career-training schools, has raised $100 million to expand its network of partner schools to address the abundance of tech talent shortages around the world.
The seed funding round was led by venture capital firm Group 11, with participation from Target Global, Pitango Ventures, Dynamic Loop Capital, British venture capitalist Sir Ronald Cohen, and other strategic investors.
Founded in 2019 by Michael Shurp, Otni Levi, Eran Glicksman, and Roi Tzikorel, Masterschool has created a network of tech-focused career-training schools in response to the growing volume of IT and other high-tech vacancies cropping up around the world. Through its network, it allows tech creators and industry experts to launch schools to teach a series of 6-9 month dynamic courses with a curriculum that prepares students for careers in the most in-demand fields. Since its inception, the platform has produced dozens of graduates from its network of schools who have been hired by some of the world’s largest tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Intel, with the average student more than doubling their previous salary.
Masterschool said tech talent shortage is one of the biggest challenges faced by companies today, with more than 1 million unfilled IT jobs in the US alone, and the number of unfilled IT jobs worldwide will reach 85 million by the end of the decade.
Speaking about the company’s mission and the latest development, Michael Shurp, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Masterschool, said,
“Masterschool’s mission is to ensure that anyone in the world can build an inspiring career. After years of developing and building Masterschool without outside funding, we’re thrilled to bring on a wonderful group of investors who share our mission and believe in our team.”
Masterschool’s courses are not for everyone. Applicants must successfully pass an admission process that includes tests and assessments to select the most ambitious and motivated candidates. The selection process is designed in collaboration with researchers at leading institutions such as the European University Institute and MIT Sloan School of Management to continually review and improve the admission process to minimize bias and ensure diversity.
Successful applicants can join schools led by recognized experts and industry leaders such as tech industry content creator Charlotte Chaze, who has more than 240k followers on TikTok; data analyst Niklas Steenfatt and data scientist Keith Galli, who each has more than 160k YouTube subscribers. Masterschool also offers students a career accelerator in which mentors work with them to assess relevant job opportunities.
Group 11 founding partner Dovi Frances said,
“The traditional education model is broken, and Masterschool has built a proven and scalable business to rewrite this model. Their growing network of schools empowers students to bypass the financial and operational inefficiencies of legacy education, while also allowing growing companies to address the massive talent shortages we see in the market today. We are proud to back the Masterschool team in this noble mission and truly believe Masterschool will ultimately become the world’s largest career-school network.”
Like many other companies, Masterschool doesn’t charge any upfront fee for its courses, which eliminates one of the biggest hurdles for many people who would like to further their careers. Instead of billing its students, it puts them through its training and helps them find a job – and only once they are gainfully employed do they have to pay for the course, which typically ranges from $10,000 to $20,000, by giving 10% of their monthly income to the company.
According to Michael, the latest funding will be used to scale up its network of schools and mentors and create more opportunities for people to pursue a tech career.
