Israeli company Masterschool, a network of tech career-training schools, has raised a $100 million seed fundraising round to provide the life-changing opportunities that come with a tech career to an ever-widening group of people.
With 1 million available IT positions in the United States alone, the IT talent shortage is one of the greatest difficulties confronting businesses today, and it is anticipated to reach 85 million unfilled positions globally by the end of the decade. 57% of IT CEOs cited the labor shortage as their primary worry.
Masterschool established a network of career-training schools for technology, with students paying for their courses only upon employment in the industry.
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There are presently thirty schools already using the platform, and there will be one hundred by the end of the year that teaches software development, data analysis, and cybersecurity, among others.
Students at Masterschool pay no tuition in advance for the 6-12 months required to finish the program. After that, they repay their tuition, which is normally between $10,000 and $20,000, by contributing 10% of their monthly salary to MasterSchool. This is a very typical paradigm for coding schools. Masterschool has also formed partnerships with organizations that will pay for the tuition of students they hire.
The students also attend a Career Accelerator, where they work with mentors on their soft skills and are provided with and evaluated career prospects.
Alumni from Masterschool institutions, including Google, Microsoft, and Intel, have been employed by some of the top tech corporations, more than tripling their prior average incomes.
Masterschool is a Tel Aviv-based organization with over 100 team members in Tel Aviv, New York, Berlin, and London. Eran Glicksman (CTO), Roi Tzikorel (Chief of Impact), Michael Shurp, and Otni Levi (Co-CEOs) founded and funded the company since 2019 because of their love for education and its role in empowering individuals to fulfill their greatest potential.
Tzikorel and Shurp (Co-CEOs) had previously launched education-based initiatives. The four founders met while collaborating on educational initiatives and programs to close socioeconomic disparities.
The majority of Masterschool’s management and R&D professionals are situated in Israel, while business development and support teams are positioned in Europe and the United States.
Masterschool has chosen to raise money externally to accelerate its expansion due to the year-over-year increase in the number of students and the placement of hundreds of students in prominent digital firms across the world.
To pick the most ambitious and motivated students, applicants must complete an admissions procedure consisting of examinations and evaluations. Scholars at Masterschool engage with researchers from prominent schools such as the European University Institute and MIT Sloan School of Management to continuously analyze and enhance the admissions process to reduce prejudice and promote diversity.
Successful candidates can enroll in programs conducted by recognized professionals and industry leaders, such as Charlotte Chaze (240k TikTok followers for her tech sector content), Niklas Steenfath (160k YouTube subscribers for his data analyst channel), and Keith Galli (160k subscribers to his YouTube data science channel).
Last month, Jolt, a provider of training courses for high-tech enterprises, including alternatives to higher education and MBAs, announced an organizational restructure that resulted in the departure of the company’s founders and a substantial number of employees.
“Masterschool’s mission is to ensure that anyone in the world can build an inspiring career,” said Michael Shurp, co-founder and co-CEO of Masterschool. “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.”
The round was headed by Group 11, with major participation from Target Global, Pitango Ventures, Dynamic Loop Capital, Sir Ronald Cohen, and other strategic investors.
Dovi Frances: “The traditional education model is broken, and Masterschool has built a proven and scalable business to rewrite this model”, said Dovi Frances, Founding Partner at Group 11. “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.”
Sir Ronald Cohen: “Talent is everywhere but educational opportunity is not. Masterschool is turning the conventional education model on its head, by bringing to its students the opportunity to pay after completing their education and gaining employment.”
