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On Monday, Christie’s, the leading British auction house founded 256 years ago in 1766, announced the launch of a new venture fund called Christie’s Ventures. According to the announcement, the company’s venture arm plans to focus on “[Web3] innovation, art-related financial products and solutions, and technologies that enable seamless consumption of art. “
The British auction house Christie’s has unveiled a new venture fund that aims to support “emerging technology and fintech companies”. The company said it plans to work in concert with its portfolio startups to accelerate growth and push Christie’s activities into innovative directions.
“Christie’s Ventures will begin exploring three broad categories,” the company said July 18.[Web3] innovation, art-related financial products and solutions and technologies that enable the seamless consumption of art. “
With premises in London, New York City and Hong Kong, Christie’s is the largest second largest auction house in terms of auction turnover behind Sotheby’s and over the auction company Phillips and China Guardian.
Christie’s has been interested in digital currency and blockchain solutions for some time now. In September 2020, the auction house sold the first bitcoin work of art ever when Christie’s presented block 21 of “Portraits of a Mind”.
The following year, the auction house accepted bitcoin (BTC) for a painting worth $ 6 million. The painting was made by Keith Haring and sold at Christie’s “20th / 21st century” sale in London.
For some time now, Christie’s has been auctioning blue-chip non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and was the auction house behind Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” NFT which sold for $ 69.34 million. Christie’s has been behind auctions with Cryptopunks, Meebits and Bored Ape NFTs, along with a complete set of NFT Curio Cards.
In addition to Christie’s, auction house competitors Sotheby’s and Phillips have also stepped into the crypto and NFT area. As for Christie’s new venture arm, the auction house’s first portfolio company is a startup called Layerzero Labs.
According to Christie’s, Layerzero is an interoperability company across chains with a strong vision and business model within a broadly addressable market. The company reduces the friction in a client’s ability to move assets between blockchains. “
Christie’s press release highlights that the company has been involved in technological innovation for many years now and was one of the first international auction house companies to offer online auctions.
“Christie’s multi-site live auction, augmented reality tools, support for NFT digital art and award-winning digital marketing have made the business more accessible and robust,” the company said Monday.
“As a global leader in the art market, Christie’s has both an incentive and a responsibility to continue to innovate and deepen experiences for our customers,” said Ben Gore, Christie’s CEO in a statement. “The intersection between technology and financial products is becoming increasingly relevant and widespread, and we strongly believe in the opportunities ahead.” Gore added:
For the companies we choose to work with, as well as for our clients, Christie’s Ventures value proposition combines the power of our brand and capital with our network and expertise; that’s another example of the formidable Christie’s advantage.
Christie’s follows the launch of “Sotheby’s Metaverse” which was launched in October 2021 and featured artists such as Paris Hilton after the platform opened. The newly appointed global head of Christie’s Ventures, Devang Thakkar, believes the auction house is in a good position to provide growth for technologically innovative ideas and startups.
“Our leadership has given us an excellent vantage point so far, and the launch of Christie’s Ventures will allow us to develop further and faster with entrepreneurs who have a strong track record of building great products and companies,” Thakkar said during the announcement.
What do you think of the newly launched Christie’s Ventures? Tell us your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.
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