Over the last year, we found ourselves hunkered down at home during the lockdown(s), with more free time on our hands than usual. Many of us tried to find and develop new hobbies, while others tried to revive old ones, with the goals of keeping sane, staying healthy, and trying to use our time in a way that felt productive and fulfilling. 

When we managed to step away from our Zoom marathons, many of us at NewView found solace in MasterClass. Guided by the world’s best instructors, we embarked on personal growth adventures from the quarantine-comfort of our own homes. From Apollonia Poilâne’s classes on Bread Baking, to learning The Art of Negotiation with Chris Voss, MasterClass helped us get through the year with inspiration, and imparted wisdom along the way.

Turns out we are not alone in our desire to learn new things; 73% of American adults consider themselves to be lifelong learners.¹ At NewView, we deeply believe this to be true, with our existing EdTech investments in Course Hero, Duolingo, BenchPrep, D2L, MindTickle and Udemy spanning K-12, Higher Ed and Corporate Learning and Development.

MasterClass plays at the intersection of education and entertainment; and is redefining the “edutainment” category. This category isn’t entirely new—we’ve long relied on edutainment to teach and engage children, just think Sesame Street and the Magic School Bus. MasterClass combines cinematic production with the highest quality instructors to bring edutainment to a wider audience, catering to our lifelong learning journey with courses spanning arts, business, sports and wellness. 

Meanwhile, consumers are streaming video more than ever before and are doing so on a record number of platforms. 40% of US adults now stream a subscription video service on a daily basis, up from 16% in 2015.² Streaming subscriptions in the US rose by 32% to 309 million in 2020,³ translating to 2.4 streaming subscriptions per household.⁴ MasterClass is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the acceleration of subscription video streaming given their one-of-a-kind, educational content library, elite group of instructors and maniacal focus on customer satisfaction.

When we first spoke to David Rogier, we were enamored with his vision to build a new category of learning experiences beyond the traditional classroom. One that was captivating, engaging, and allowed viewers to learn from the very best in the field–a modern day digital “Library of Alexandria” as he calls it. 

Today, Masterclass announced they have raised $225 million to continue to produce transformational classes, enhance their global offering and launch their new enterprise business. We at NewView are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with David Rogier and the MasterClass team. Like many others during the pandemic, we also added some new furry friends to the NewView family, and we’ll certainly be referring back to Brandon McMillan’s Dog Training for some time.