Online art marketplace Artfinder exceeds its initial fundraising target of £250,000 in just six hours, after launching on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. It’s the first time that the business has run a crowdfunding campaign, following a period of exponential growth in Q1 2020. Investors in the crowdfunding round will receive equity in the business, at a pre-money valuation of £10 million.
Artfinder has seen new customer year on year growth of over 144% in April and May 2020, 108% increase in value of art sold, with more than 8,000 artworks sold in total. May was the site’s best month for sales in its seven year history, both in terms of total number of artworks sold and total value, selling an artwork, on average, every 10 minutes.
A crowdfunding raise will allow Artfinder to accelerate its growth and improve the platform for artists and customers. Money raised will be used to deliver faster artist payments, an improved seller and buyer experience on the platform, improved customer service and scaled up customer recruitment to bring art to a wider audience of collectors and help more artists sell. Lead investor, VC firm Wellington Partners, have invested £5m in Artfinder to date.
CEO Michal Szczesny comments:
‘Since we launched in 2013 we’ve grown the business steadily, we’ve kept our operations lean and we are proud to have reached a point of sustainability. We wouldn’t be where we are today without our amazing community of artists and customers and now, in light of growth at a level we’ve never seen before, it feels like the right time to invite our community to share in our success.’
The largest online marketplace for art, Artfinder is a VC funded startup, backed by the investors behind Spotify and Zoopla. Investors include Wellington Partners, Oxford Capital, Cambridge Angels, plus private investors in the UK, the US and Switzerland. In August 2019, Artfinder became the art world’s first B Corp, solidifying its commitment to its values to support artists and make art affordable and accessible.
Interested parties can view our Crowdcube page here.
About Artfinder
Artfinder is the art marketplace.
We’re on a mission to make art accessible, affordable and a viable career for artists.
The site is growing fast, currently connecting 450,000 subscribers around the world with:
• 6,000 artists and galleries internationally
• 500,000+ artworks in categories including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, drawing and collag
©2020 Artfinder
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