Founded in 2015, Verisart, the pioneer of blockchain-based certification for the arts and collectibles market, has raised $2.5 million in seed financing. The round was led by Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund with further investment from existing investors Sinai Ventures and Rhodium. The funding will enable Verisart to expand its commercial platform for authentication and further contribute to the art world.
Co-Founder and CEO Robert Norton said:
“With this new round of funding, we’re able to scale our business and ramp up our partnership integrations. The artworld is quickly realizing that blockchain provides a new standard in provenance and record-keeping and we’re looking forward to extending these services to the industry.”
In recent years, Verisart has since partnered with several art industry stakeholders, including eBay, Art Systems and the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) as well as working with some of the world’s best-known artists including Ai Wei Wei and Shepard Fairey to certify their works of art.
In 2018, Verisart won the ‘Hottest Blockchain DApp’ award at The Europas, the European tech startup awards. In 2019, Verisart became the first blockchain certification provider on Shopify. The Verisart Shopify app is now available to over 600,000 stores as an easy way to offer digital certification for limited editions, artworks and collectibles.
The funding will go towards extending the product and engineering team and launching a suite of premium services aimed at artists, galleries and collectors. The company recently appointed Paul Duncan, formerly the founding CTO of Borro, the online lending platform for luxury assets, to lead the engineering team. Further senior management announcements are expected to follow.
Verisart is a founding member of the Arts Innovators Alliance, an alliance of forward-thinking art businesses committed to advancing the art industry through innovation and technology.
