Art investment platform operator Yeolmae Co. raises $14 mn in Series B

South Korean startup Yeolmae Company announced Monday it received 17 billion won ($14 million) worth of funds through its Series B round. With the latest injection of funds, the company's accumulated funding stands at 27 billion won.

Yeolmae operates ArtnGuide, an online platform that allows users to pool money to collectively purchase famous works of art with the aim of selling them at a premium later. 

Existing investors like SoftBank Ventures Asia, which is the corporate venture capital arm of SoftBank Group; Bass Investment; and KDB Capital Corp. continued their investments in this round.

Uon Investment and Hanwha Investment & Securities Co. jointly led a group of new investors as co-GPs or joint general partners. Other new investors in the Series B round are DS Asset Management; Lotte Rental Co.; and KT Investment Inc.

Founded in 2016, Yeolmae Company divides up the ownership of pieces by famous artists such as Kim Whanki, Yayoi Kusama, David Hockney, and Pablo Picasso and makes the parts available for sale on the online platform.

Investors say the company has made alternative investment in visual art more accessible to the general public, as such investment had been seen as only for the wealthy. 

Users on the platform pool money together to purchase a work of art and when the piece goes up in value, it can be sold at a premium. The individual investors will then receive the profit.

The platform has purchased a total of 33 billion won worth of famous artwork and sold 60% of it for a profit so far. 

Yeolmae will use the fresh injection of funds to purchase up to 100 billion won worth of new art. Going forward, the company will also pursue an initial public offering to grow as a global art platform.

Write to Jong Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.