Christie's Ventures
7 Bell Yard, London, WC2A 2JR, United Kingdom
Overview
Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in 2014 that totalled £5.1 billion / $8.4 billion, making it the highest annual total in Christie’s history. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by JamesChristie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers around 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Private sales totalled £916.1 million ($1.5 billion) in 2014, an increase of 20% on the previous year. Christie’s has a global presence with 54 offices in 32 countries and 12 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai.
- Total investments
- 2
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 8
Sector focus
- Auctions
- Jewelry
- Photography
Investment portfolio
- mmERCH
Participated · Seed · Mar 2024
mmERCH builds blockchain-enabled, generative-design fashion collections of singular, one-of-a-kind garments it calls “neo-couture,” each paired with a digital twin on the blockchain. The company leverages AI and generative algorithms to produce unique physical items accompanied by non-fungible digital counterparts that verify authenticity and scarcity. Revealed in late 2023 by Founder and CEO Colby Mugrabi, mmERCH is supported by a team of founders, creators, collectors, curators, artists, academics, and authors. The brand targets a community at the intersection of art, fashion, and technology and plans to launch its inaugural collection in April 2024. mmERCH raised a $6.4 million seed round at a $25.7 million post-money valuation to expand operations. Proceeds will be used to build a proprietary technology stack, grow the engineering team, and fund subsequent collections.
- LayerZero Labs
Participated · Series B · Apr 2023
LayerZero Labs is the creator of LayerZero, an interoperability protocol designed to eliminate liquidity fragmentation by allowing cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets to move natively between blockchains. The company’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard underpins blockchain-agnostic assets such as USDt0, a version of Tether’s USDT that has reportedly transferred more than $70 billion across networks in under a year. By guaranteeing fungibility across chains, LayerZero gives developers confidence that capital will not be trapped on a single network, expanding use cases for decentralized finance. The same infrastructure also supports more experimental concepts like AI agents that autonomously manage wallets and payments—what Tether calls “agentic finance.” Recent deployments by Everdawn Labs and the launch of tokenized gold asset XAUt0 further showcase the protocol’s real-world traction. LayerZero’s ZRO governance token reacted to the latest investment news with brief gains, reflecting market interest in the project.