Peggy Raises $10.8 Million, Introduces a Way for Artists to Earn Royalties With the Official Launch of Its App

The app makes investing in art accessible to all amidst economic uncertainty

Peggy the secure marketplace to buy, and sell contemporary art—launched , 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. 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.

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“Peggy is moving the art world in the right direction, creating a new level of transparency and accountability”

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 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.”

Peggy’s vision is simple yet ambitious: a world with art in every home. To achieve this, Peggy has partnered with 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.”

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Closing a round like this in a time of looming potential recession, especially from a strong lineup of investors, is testament to Peggy’s unique value proposition. Investors include Real Ventures (Janet Bannister, early eBay, founder of Kijiji), ZVC (Japanese / Korean based VC), Garage Capital (Mike McCauley, exit to Google), Portage (fintech VC), Nomad Capital (Marc McCabe, early Airbnb) and angel investors such as Bob Harding (former Chairman, Brookfield and former President, Board of Trustees, Art Gallery of Ontario), David Marcus (EVP Head of Music, Ticketmaster) and others.

The fundraise also included investment by UK-based rapper Tinie Tempah, an avid art collector.

“I see many similarities between Peggy and early Airbnb,” said investor Ian Logan, one of the first employees at Airbnb. “Just as Airbnb enabled secure and safe peer-to-peer transactions for rentals, Peggy is enabling secure and safe peer-to-peer transactions for art. Both require community, trust, and payments, all of which Peggy has built into its app and system.”

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.

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