TORONTO.- Peggy—the secure marketplace to buy, and sell contemporary art—launched today, expanding the art market by providing everyone the opportunity to collect and resell art. The art world has historically been skewed towards millionaires who can enjoy liquidity in the art market, buying and reselling art with ease. By introducing an industry-first artificial intelligence for verification, paired with marketplace and social features, new collectors now have the ability to resell if they choose, while artists earn royalties. Peggy gives people the confidence to start collecting art. Additionally, Peggy announced today that it has raised $10.8 million CAD ($8 million USD) in funding. In contrast to recent economic uncertainty, Peggy’s funding round is an example of how art is a stable asset class and investment—that also supports artists and galleries.
With Peggy, artists across the globe can earn royalties and collectors have the flexibility to resell. With Peggy's patent-pending digital fingerprint, artists, galleries and collectors can finally authenticate artwork. This authentication process enables secondary sales and automatic royalties. Only possible today given advancements in artificial intelligence, Peggy’s digital fingerprinting process utilizes the ease of taking a smartphone picture to create a seamless experience. By enabling collectors to reliably and independently authenticate artwork, Peggy opens the door to secure reselling while continuing to support artists and galleries with royalties.
Peggy’s vision is simple yet ambitious: a world with art in every home. To achieve this, Peggy has partnered top contemporary galleries from around the world for the app’s launch. Artwork on the platform features emerging and established artists in a range of stylistic offerings. For those that might be intimidated by the art world, Peggy offers an array of educational materials in the form of editorial articles and Pegcasts (short form audio clips that include interviews with artists). The galleries that Peggy partners with show at the top art fairs in the world—including Art Basel, NADA, Liste and Zona Maco. Additionally, the artists on the platform have shown at top-tier museums such as the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, MOCA Geffen, and Louvre Abu Dhabi. The high quality of the artwork on Peggy allows collectors to buy art with confidence. In other words, the art on Peggy is investment-grade.
“Peggy is moving the art world in the right direction, creating a new level of transparency and accountability,” said Larry Ossei-Mensah, co-founder of ARTNOIR, curator, and advisor to Peggy. “By providing artists royalties, Peggy is creating a more sustainable art world that gives artists the tools and resources to really succeed.”
New collectors and those interested in entering the art market often feel overwhelmed by choice: not knowing what good art is and what art is worth. Peggy takes the guesswork out of collecting by curating a vetted array of artists. VP of Art at Peggy, Bronwyn Hunter-Shortly, whose previous experience includes Christie’s Auction House, Kasmin Gallery and art advisory at Winston Art Group, leads the team in curating top galleries, artists and artworks from around the world. Peggy’s transparent pricing and public registry of ownership also allow collectors to gain a better understanding of an artwork’s history and trends.
The company was founded by serial entrepreneurs Craig Follett and Adam Meghji, who have worked together for over a decade and sold their last business to Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV).
"Peggy creates a new economy for art, one where everyone can participate," said Craig Follett, Co-founder & CEO of Peggy. "For the first time ever, collectors can buy art with the flexibility to sell it on the other side, should they one day need to rehome the artwork. This unprecedented flexibility, previously only available to billionaires, is now available to the rest of us, and we're excited to be at the forefront of this movement."
To ensure that each collector gets a personalized experience on Peggy, an invite code is currently in place to access the app. This also makes sure that galleries are able to sustainably reply to all offers—creating a positive experience for everyone. Additionally, collectors can add their names to the waitlist and they will receive an email within a week giving them access to the app.
