Jul 19, 2022 11:37 a.m. UTC
| Updated:
July 19, 2022 at 11:37 UTC
On Monday, Christie’s, Britain’s leading business venture born 256 years ago in 1766, announced the launch of a replacement venture capital fund called Christie’s Ventures. according to the announcement, the company’s venture arm plans to specialize in “[Web3] innovation, art-related monetary products and solutions, and technologies that change the ongoing consumption of art.
Christie’s Ventures to foster “Web3 innovation, art-related financial products”
British trading firm Christie’s has unveiled a replacement venture capital fund that aims to support “emerging technologies and fintech companies”. The company said it plans to feature in unison with startups in its portfolio to accelerate growth and push Christie’s business in innovative directions.
“Christie’s Ventures can start by exploring 3 broad classes,” the company said on July 18. “[Web3] innovation, art-related monetary commodities, and solutions and technologies that alter the ongoing consumption of art.
With offices in London, the Big Apple City and Hong Kong, Christie’s is the second largest trading company by auction turnover behind Sotheby’s and ahead of auction house Phillips and China Guardian.
Christie’s has dabbled in digital currency and blockchain solutions a few times currently. In September 2020, the trading company sold the first bitcoin model ever awarded by Christie’s to block twenty-one of “Portraits of a Mind”.
The following year, the trading company accepted bitcoin (BTC) for a painting price of $6 million. The painting was made by Keith Haring and sold at Christie’s “20th/21st century” sale in London.
Christie’s has been auctioning valuable non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for quite some time now and was the trading company behind Beeple’s “Everydays: the first 5,000 Days” NFT which sold for $69.34 million. Christie’s has been behind auctions including Cryptopunks, Meebits and Bored Ape NFT, aboard a full set of NFT interest cards.
In addition to Christie’s, competing firms Sotheby’s and Phillips have also entered the crypto and NFT space. As Christie’s new venture capital arm worries, the auction house’s first portfolio company could be a startup known as Layerzero Labs.
According to Christie’s, “Layerzero could be a cross-chain capability company with a strong vision and business model in a broad available market. The company reduces friction in a client’s ability to maneuver assets across blockchains.
Christie’s announcement highlights that the company has been committed to technological innovation for years and was one of the first international trading companies to offer online auctions.
“Christie’s multi-site auction livestream, augmented reality tools, NFT digital art support and triumphant digital selling have made the company much more accessible and resilient,” said Monday. the aforementioned company.
“As a global art market leader, Christie’s has both an incentive and a responsibility to further innovate and deepen experiences for our customers,” said Ben Gore, chief executive of Christie’s, in a statement. “The intersections of technology and money are increasingly relevant and pervasive, and we strongly believe in the opportunities ahead.” Gore added:
For the companies we tend to choose to list with, as well as for our buyers, Christie’s Ventures price offering combines the ease of our package and capital with our network and expertise; it’s another example of Christie’s tremendous advantage.
Christie’s followed the launch of “Sotheby’s Metaverse” which launched in October 2021 and featured artists like Paris Hilton as the platform opened. The newly appointed international director of Christie’s Ventures, Devang Thakkar, believes that the commercial company is in a very smart position to produce growth for technologically innovative concepts and startups.
“Our leadership has provided us with a great perspective thus far and the launch of Christie’s Ventures will allow the United States to grow further and faster with entrepreneurs who have a powerful log of building interesting products and businesses,” remarked Thakkar during the announcement.
clark
Head of Technology.