MasterClass Invests in Canada's Tech Talent With an Engineering Headquarters in Waterloo

Will tap into the region's engineering, product, design and data community

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Jun 08, 2021, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MasterClass, the streaming platform that makes it possible for anyone to learn from the best, today announced the expansion of its presence in Canada with an engineering hub in the Waterloo region. Having just raised $225M in Series F funding, MasterClass will use this capital to further advance its strategic initiatives, including increased content production, international expansion and the launch of a new enterprise business in response to strong demand from both SMBs and large corporations. The Waterloo-based technical teams will support these initiatives, including efforts such as building out the company's enterprise product offering, building technical integrations with distribution partners and scaling technical and video infrastructure. Local hires Matt Elgie, who held senior leadership roles at Barracuda FX, Broadway Technology and Sandvine, and James Spere, who held senior leadership roles at ProNavigator, Roadmunk and D2L, will be growing and leading the engineering, product and other technical teams in Canada.

MasterClass Invests in Canada’s Tech Talent With an Engineering Headquarters in Waterloo

MasterClass will hire engineers across the full development stack, including web, mobile, native and back-end infrastructure (core systems are built on Ruby on Rails), in addition to product managers, designers, technical program managers, data scientists and data engineers. The company plans to expand its overall workforce to more than 500 employees in 2021, including growing the Canada office to become a peer engineering headquarters to the existing headquarters in San Francisco. The engineering team at MasterClass emphasizes a collaborative culture and will maintain cohesion across offices and working from home during this period of rapid growth.

"As MasterClass has been experiencing rapid growth, we are scaling our platform, technology and products to meet the needs of our global consumer and enterprise user base," said Paul Bankhead, chief product officer of MasterClass. "I've had great experiences working with Waterloo-based technical teams and am excited to partner with Canada's thriving and collaborative tech community to support this expansion."

"I am delighted to welcome MasterClass to our community's growing cluster of leading technology companies with strong global brands," said Tony LaMantia, president and CEO of Waterloo EDC. "The Waterloo EDC team looks forward to supporting the company's first international expansion outside of the U.S., including its integration into our ecosystem."

"We're pleased to welcome MasterClass, a leading innovator in the education technology space to Ontario," said Vic Fedeli, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. "The establishment of MasterClass' new engineering hub will enrich the Waterloo region's innovation ecosystem and provide exciting new opportunities for Ontario's talented workforce."

MasterClass plans to have its first hires start remotely in June, with a physical office expected to come once it is safe to return to in-person work. For more information on career opportunities at MasterClass, click here.

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ABOUT MASTERCLASS:
Launched in 2015, MasterClass is the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world's best. With an annual membership, subscribers get unlimited access to 100+ instructors and classes across a wide range of subjects, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Step into Anna Wintour's office, Ron Finley's garden and Neil Gaiman's writing retreat. Get inspired by RuPaul, perfect your pitch with Shonda Rhimes, and discover your inner negotiator with Chris Voss. Each class features about 20 video lessons, at an average of 10 minutes per lesson. You can learn on your own terms—in bite-size pieces or in a single binge. Cinematic visuals and close-up, hands-on demonstrations make you feel like you're one-on-one with the instructors, while the downloadable instructor guides help reinforce your learning. Stream thousands of lessons anywhere, anytime, on mobile, tablet, desktop, Apple TV®, Android™ TV, Amazon Fire TV® and Roku® players and devices.

Follow MasterClass:
Twitter @masterclass
Instagram @masterclass
Facebook @masterclassofficial

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Media Contacts:
Alyssa Bergerson, MasterClass
[email protected]

SOURCE MasterClass