The new Christie’s venture fund will support technology and fintech startups focused on the art market.

Christie’s, the venerable art and luxury business and auction house with a global presence, announced Monday the launch of Christie’s Ventures, a fund that will invest in Emerging Technology and FinTech companies creating solutions to enhance the art market. (Christies.com)

The new venture fund will focus on the following three areas:

• Web3.o innovation
• Art related financial products and solutions
• Technologies that enable seamless consumption of art

“We will focus on products and services which can solve real business challenges, improve client experiences, and expand growth opportunities, both across the art market directly and for interactions with it,” said Devang Thakkar, the newly appointed Global Head of Christie’s Ventures. “Our leadership has provided us with an excellent vantage point thus far and the launch of Christie’s Ventures will allow us to develop further and faster with entrepreneurs who have a strong track record of building great products and companies.”

Christie’s Ventures has made its first portfolio investment in LayerZero Labs, which is building a community of cross-chain developers creating decentralized applications. The developers will use LayerZero’s messaging protocol to make these apps work across different blockchains.

Bryan Pellegrino, LayerZero Co-Founder and CEO, remarked: “We look forward to working with their team to find new and innovative ways to create the most accessible, frictionless experience with assets indexed over multiple blockchains.”

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