Masterworks
 | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Scott Lynn |
| Headquarters | Brookfield Place, New York City , U.S. |
Area served | United States + 100 other countries |
Key people | Scott Lynn (CEO) Allen Sukholitsky (CIO)[1] |
| AUM |
|
| Members | 800,000 (2023) |
Number of employees | ~200 (2024) |
| Website | Official website |
Masterworks Advisers LLC is an American financial services company that specializes in the Art Investment market. Masterworks is a global brand with investors from over 30 countries. The company's secondary market is available to investors in more than 12 countries. Traditionally, Masterworks will buy a piece of art and file it to the SEC as a Public offering, the company will then sell shares of the art on their website for varying costs.[2] Masterworks helps investors add another asset class to their portfolio as contemporary art investments have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 25 years (offering a 14% annual return versus the S&P 500′s 9.5% annual return), according to the Citi Global Art Market chart [citation needed]. As of December 2023, Masterworks has over 1 million members and over $ 1 billion in assets under management.[3] The company has notably sold artworks by Banksy, George Condo, Cecily Brown, Simone Leigh, Claude Monet, and Andy Warhol.[3][1]
History
Masterworks was founded in 2017 by Scott Lynn to make the art market more accessible to investors.[2] However, the company has since strayed from this business model and has begun to prioritize wealthy clients.[4][1]
In 2021, Masterworks raised $110 million in Series A funding, led by Left Lane Capital. The backing valued the company at more than $1 billion. By February 2022, the company had bought more than 100 paintings, worth nearly $450 million[4][5][6]
In June 2023, it was reported that only 5% of the sites registered users had actually made an investment.[4] The company is also known for its large marketing push, as the company nearly doubled its marketing from $5 million to $9 million. Several employees have also reported "unethical" tactics to get better Ad placements on websites.[4]
Scott Lynn was quoted as saying, "They know who Basquiat is, or Kaws...They don’t know the other artists. Out of 150,000 investors, very few are art world people."[7]
References
- ^ a b c "Masterworks: The $1bn company selling paintings as stocks and changing art forever". The Independent. 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ a b Gravier, Elizabeth. "Masterworks: The platform that allows nearly anyone to invest in multimillion-dollar art". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ a b "Masterworks Review 2024". Time. 2023-12-13. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ a b c d Villa, Angelica (2022-12-27). "Rising Startup Masterworks Beset by Internal Rifts, Alleged Recklessness, and Staff Cuts". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ Primack, Dan (Oct 5, 2021). "Art investment platform Masterworks raises $110 million". Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Matney, Lucas (2021-10-05). "Masterworks raises $110M to sell fractional shares of physical art – not NFTs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ Salmon, Felix (Oct 7, 2021). "Why Masterworks is worth $1 billion". Axios. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
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