Christie’s, a famous British auction house that was founded 256 years ago in 1766, announced on Monday that it was starting Christie’s Ventures. According to the announcement, the company’s venture arm will focus on “[Web3] innovation, art-related financial products and solutions, and technologies that make it easy to consume art.”
“Web3 Innovation and Art-Related Financial Products” will get help from Christie’s Ventures.
The British auction house Christie’s has announced a new fund to help “emerging technology and financial technology firms.” The company said that it wants to work with the companies in its portfolio to speed up development and expand Christie’s business into new areas.
The company said on July 18 that Christie’s Ventures will start by looking into three main areas. “[Web3] financial goods related to art, as well as solutions and technology that make it easy to consume art.”
Christie’s has offices in London, New York City, and Hong Kong. In terms of auction turnover, Christie’s is the second-largest auction house, after Sotheby’s and ahead of Phillips and China Guardian.
Christie’s has been interested in blockchain and digital money for a long time. In September 2020, Christie’s showed Block 21 of “Portraits of a Mind” and sold the first piece of art ever sold for bitcoin.
The auction house took bitcoin (BTC) for a $6 million painting the following year. The picture was made by Keith Haring, and it was sold at the “20th/21st century” auction at Christie’s in London.
Christie’s has been auctioning blue-chip non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for a while now. The “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” NFT from Beeple, which sold for $69.34 million, was sold at Christie’s. Christie’s has sold Cryptopunks, Meebits, and Bored Ape NFTs, as well as a full set of NFT Curio Cards.
Sotheby’s and Phillips, two other auction houses that compete with Christie’s, have also joined the crypto and NFT market. The new venture arm of Christie’s says that the first company it will invest in is a startup called Layerzero Labs.
Christie’s says, “Layerzero is a cross-chain interoperability company with a great vision and business plan in a huge market that can be reached.” The company makes it easier for customers to move assets between blockchains.
A news release from Christie’s says that the company has been working to improve technology for many years and was one of the first auction houses in the world to offer online auctions.
“Christie’s multi-site auction live streaming, augmented reality tools, support for NFT digital art, and award-winning digital marketing has made the business more accessible and resilient,” the company said on Monday.
Ben Gore, Christie’s chief operations officer, said, “As the world leader in the art market, Christie’s has both a reason and a duty to keep coming up with new ideas and making our customers’ experiences better.” “The places where technology and financial products meet are getting more important and common, and we’re excited about what’s to come.” Gore continued:
“For the companies we select to work with, as well as for our clients, the Christie’s Ventures value proposition combines the power of our brand and capital together with our network and expertise; it is another example of the formidable Christie’s advantage.”
Christie’s came after “Sotheby’s Metaverse,” which opened in October 2021 and had artists like Paris Hilton on it once it was ready. Devang Thakkar, who was just named worldwide head of Christie’s Ventures, thinks the auction house is in a good position to help entrepreneurs with new ideas in technology.
Thakkar made the announcement and said ,“Our leadership has provided us with an excellent vantage point thus 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,”
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