Startup hopes to make art investment more inclusive
Madelaine D’Angelo had the idea to found Arthena, sort of a mutual fund for fine art. It’s an online crowdsourcing platform that allows investors to essentially buy an equity share of an art collection for the relatively low price of $10,000. That money gets pooled with other investors, which allows the group to own art collections, like “New York Art 1960s to 1980s” and “European Emerging Artists.”
Investing in art tends to be outside the financial grasp of most individuals. Art auction house Sotheby’s sold Vincent van Gogh’s “L’Allee des Alyscamps,” and Monet’s “Nympheas” for price tags well over $50 million each.
D’Angelo grew up and worked in the art scene, but noticed that museums and collectors were trying to reach out to a wider audience that she was a part of. “We know that there’s people out there that want to participate, but we just can’t seem to bring them in,” D’Angelo says.
“I’m part of this generation that they’re trying to reach out to, and I realized that this generation looks at art not only from a cultural perspective, but also a financial perspective. And it makes sense, because if you look at how many kids my age have student loans, if you put $10,000 into something, you want to make sure it’ll be worth $10,000 the next day.”
D’Angelo notes that while post-war contemporary art has made roughly 10 percent gains the over last five years, “past performance does not indicate future success.”
Click play above to hear more about Arthena and the art market.
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