Auction House Christie’s Sets Up Venture Fund for Web3 and Blockchain Ventures

Christie’s, a prominent British auction house noted for last year’s $69 million sale of Bepple’s artwork ‘Everydays‘, has established an investment fund to aid firms that want to develop “seamless consumption of art” technologies.

Christie’s has stated that the Christie’s Ventures fund would give financial assistance to companies working on Web3 breakthroughs, technology connected to premium and art objects, and art-related financial tools and systems.

The Wall Street Journal tweeted on July 18: “The organization will seek to provide initial investment to new startups whose innovations might eventually assist collectors in purchasing and selling additional art, digital and otherwise.”

LayerZero Labs is the foremost firm that Christie’s will sponsor, according to the organization. It is a company that creates technologies to allow decentralized omnichain apps for cross-blockchain asset transfers.

Devang Thakkar, the worldwide head of Christie’s Ventures, commented, “We will concentrate on services and goods that address actual business concerns, enhance client interactions, and increase growth potential throughout the art market and its touchpoints.”

In 2021, Christie’s sold for over $69 million an NFT artwork created by Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple. In addition to partnering with OpenSea, a secondary marketplace for transacting NFTs online, the business has organized on-chain bidding and several additional prominent auctions of NFT artwork.

The amount of venture capital devoted to blockchain technology in 2022 was unprecedented. As per Cointelegraph, crypto- and blockchain-focused companies have attracted over $14.8 billion in the first three months of the year alone, which is over 50% of the aggregate for 2021. Despite the bear market and decline in cryptocurrency asset values, Metaverse and Web3-focused firms are surviving and attracting investor interest.