Leading Auction House Launches Christie’s Ventures and Web3

Leading Auction House Launches Christie’s Ventures and Web3

The leading British auction house, Christie's, founded 256 years ago in 1766, announced the launch of a new venture fund called Christie’s Ventures on Monday. According to the announcement, the company’s fintech venture plans to focus on "[Web3] innovation, art-related financial products and solutions, and technologies that enable seamless consumption of art."

‘Web3 Innovation, Art-Related Financial Products’

The British auction house has revealed a new venture fund that aims to support "emerging technology and fintech companies." The firm said that it plans to work in unison with its portfolio startups to accelerate growth and push Christie’s activities into innovative directions.

"Christie’s Ventures will start by exploring three broad categories," the company said on July 18. "[Web3] innovation, art-related financial products, and solutions and technologies that enable seamless consumption of art."

Christie’s is located in London, New York City, and Hong Kong. It is the second-largest auction house by turnover, behind Sotheby’s and above the auction firms Phillips and China Guardian.

Christie’s has been into digital currency and blockchain solutions for some time now. In September 2020, the auction house sold the first bitcoin artwork, Block 21, of "Portraits of a Mind."

The auction house also accepted bitcoin (BTC) for a painting worth $6 million in 2021. The painting was crafted by Keith Haring and sold at Christie’s "20th/21st century" sale in London.

Christie’s has been auctioning blue-chip non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and has been behind Beeple’s "Everyday: The First 5,000 Days" NFT that sold for $69.34 million. Christie’s has also been behind auctions featuring Cryptopunks, Meebits, and Bored Ape NFTs, alongside a full set of NFT Curio Cards.

Besides, Christie’s auction house, competitors Sotheby’s and Phillips, have stepped into the crypto and NFT space as well. The auction house’s first portfolio company is a startup called Layerzero Labs.

Christie's explained that "Layerzero is a cross-chain interoperability company with a strong vision and business model within a broad addressable market. The company reduces friction in a client’s ability to move assets between blockchains."

The auction house's press release highlights that the company has been involved with technological innovation for years now and was one of the first international auction houses to offer online auctions.

"Christie’s multi-site auction live streaming, augmented reality tools, support for NFT digital art, and award-winning digital marketing have made the business more accessible and resilient," the company expressed on Monday.

"As a global leader in the art market, Christie’s has both an incentive and a responsibility to further innovation and deepen experiences for our clients," Ben Gore, Christie’s Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement. "The intersections of technology and financial products are increasingly relevant and prevalent, and we believe strongly in the opportunities ahead." Gore added:

"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 with the network and expertise; it is 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 like Paris Hilton. The newly appointed global head of Christie’s Ventures, Devang Thakkar, believes the auction house is in a good position to provide growth opportunities for technologically innovative ideas and startups.

"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," Thakkar concluded.