Don’t educate, entertain. That’s the ethos that won MasterClass another $100 million in Series E funding last week. This new raise puts the company at an $800 million valuation, and they reportedly will be upping production to one new class a week.

MasterClass has excelled at partnering up with hard to reach celebrities and niche experts, with classes from Natalie Portman to Serena Williams.

Just two years ago Masterclass launched for iOS, and now they have their sights set on VR.

“Imagine if you could take Steph Curry’s class in AR, and see where to position your feet. Or a class in VR with Jerry Seinfeld, and learn how to read the audience in the room,” says CEO David Rogier in an interview with TechCrunch.

It seems celebrity-led content is doing especially well during the pandemic. It’s been a perfect storm for Cameo, as celebrities have been cooped up in the house and their fans are in dire need of entertainment. They’ve seen talent sign-ups increase since 160% since the beginning of March, with an 83% increase in bookings according to an interview in Fast Company.

Makes you think how you can apply this secret sauce to startups. Although having the same access to talent is tricky without the budget, we’ve already seen companies applying a mix of industry influence and online learning in unique ways.

Take Wrong Project that launched yesterday. They are curating content from known industry creators into bite-sized think pieces. Online learning and ecommerce are becoming even more integrated too, so why not pair up with an influencer to launch a course on top of your Shopify store or use Knowable to create an audio course.

We hope you still read PH when you’re famous. 👋

This B2B marketing leader made a reality TV series about her onboarding experience at a startup during the pandemic. Who says you can’t be the star of the show? ✨