Christie’s, the auction famous for art and luxury items sales, reportedly rolled out an investment fund, aim at assisting emerging firms with technology enabling “seamless consumption of art.”

Specifically, the auction firm reportedly revealed that the fund, Christie’s Ventures, will offer financial assistance for companies dealing with Web3, “art-related financial products and solutions,” as well as tech associated with to art and luxury goods. 

Per Christie’s, the first amount it plans to invest will reportedly be in LayerZero Labs, an establishment building solutions for enabling omnichain decentralized applications, bringing transfer of assets between blockchains an enhanced seamless nature. 

“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,” Christie’s Ventures global head Devang Thakkar additionally remarked. 

The initiative to establish a presence in the blockchain-related investments scene reportedly serves as an additional stride for Christie’s to assist ventures across the crypto sphere. 

Last year, the firm reportedly organized an auction for a piece of nonfungible artwork from Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, ultimately reeling in over $69 million. Since then, it has hosted numerous top-tier sales for NFT artwork, along with forging an alliance with the OpenSea online marketplace for on-chain auctions.

2022 is reportedly on a trajectory to become a record year for blockchain-associated venture funding. Previously, blockchain- and crypto-centric entities secured $14.8 billion in Q1 of 202 – almost fiftly percent of 2021’s totals. 

Regardless of the fact that activity has seen a decline mainly because of bearish movements throughout the market, startups with a concentration on Web3 and the Metaverse keep on reeling in significant capital.