Leading Online Art Marketplace Artspace Raises $8.5 Million for Global Platform
Artspace.com, the only Internet platform on which collectors may buy pieces of art from leading contemporary artists, has collected $8.5 million new funds, to be directed toward funding its technology investment and global expansion. The premier Internet marketplace for contemporary art, Artspace, since its inception in March 2011, has sold works from leading commercial galleries and cultural institutions, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Paula Cooper Gallery, David Zwirner Gallery and White Cube. The website is also pleased to announce the appointment of internationally acclaimed collector Maria Baibakova as Strategic Director.
As a component of the Artspace Limited Edition series, Artspace curators also commission exclusive pieces directly from some of the top artists around, including Lawrence Weiner, Peter Coffin, Wangechi Mutu and Marcel Dzama.
“We are proud to be helping artists, galleries and institutions reach broader audiences and to provide collectors access to artworks from all over the world,” said Catherine Levene, CEO and co-founder of Artspace. “Through our transactional business model, we offer buyers a selection of unique and editioned artwork by top artists ranging from a few hundred dollars to $1,500,000. Although we are less than two years old, we’ve sold to collectors from over 25 countries. Buyers appreciate that we provide information and deep educational content alongside transparent pricing so purchases can be made confidently and easily.”
Board of Directors Warren Lee from Canaan Partners, the main contributor of the new funds, declared “There is significant opportunity in the art technology sector at the moment and of all the platforms that we investigated, Artspace.com has the most compelling business model. We are already seeing existing collectors embrace the platform and we believe the next generation of art collectors will expect to be able to buy online.”
Levene and co-founder Christopher Vroom intend to use the new funds to address the growing collection demand and quintuple the website’s inventory.
New Strategic Director Baibakova will aid in expanding both Artspace Limited Edition series and the site’s inventory by ramping up partnerships with museums, cultural institutions, galleries, artists, publishers and art fairs around the globe. As the collector and founder of the well-known Baibakov Art Projects and with a masters in Art History from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she is recognized by international media as one of the most influential figures in the art world. According to The Wall Street Journal, Baibakova is one of the most sought after board members by cultural institutions across the United States.
“Over the last nine years my mission has been to support artists and the platforms that empower them. I see Artspace.com as a new, and, importantly, viable model to achieve these goals by opening artists, galleries and cultural institutions up to new audiences, both in my native Russia and around the globe,” Baibakova explained. “I’m acutely aware of the time, energy and access required to build a collection. Until Artspace.com there were no tools available enabling collectors to make informed purchases online – I hope to continue expanding Artspace.com as the trusted resource and marketplace for collectors of all levels.”
LadyLUX via Artspace
