FUELARTS
Art+Tech & NFT Startups Report 2022
Fuelarts – is the first dedicated accelerator (NYC) that uncovers the potential of Art+Tech & NFT startups. It provides startups not only with supportive community to connect all art+tech ecosystem stakeholders, but also bonds with private investor services and helps to acquire the necessary knowledge and tool to prepare investment-attractive projects.
"THE ART MARKET ECOSYSTEM IS PRETTY COMPLICATED, BUT IT GIVES A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO FIND ALTERNATIVE ASSETS WITH LOW VOLATILITY FOR YOUR PORTFOLIO. KEEP EXPERTISE ON ART BUSINESS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS WITH FUELARTS - THE FIRST DEDICATED ACCELERATOR FOR ART+TECH & NFT"
Denis Belkevich, General Partner, Fuelarts
Denis Belkevich, General Partner, Fuelarts
March, 31st 2022, a new specialized in-depth Art+Tech & NFT Startups Report 2022 will be presented to the professional audience by FUELARTS* accelerator. This report is a unique study on Art+Tech & NFT Ecosystem, revealing data on startups' geographical distribution, stages of startups' development, and investment attractiveness over the past 30 years. Fuelarts' analytics presents data on the type of investors in the ecosystem and shares key problems and solutions in the field. Also, for the first time, the activity of female-founded startups is analyzed.
Fuelarts was the first one to research investments made into Art+Tech startups and later included its findings into Deloitte Art & Finance report in 2019. This year they did a full-fledged industry report focused on the Art+Tech & NFT startups and it's unique because no one before:
- didn't single out art+tech startups into separate groups among other startups;
- didn't calculate investments in them separately from all startups;
- didn't propose splitting art+tech startups into startups from the physical and digital markets.
- didn't single out art+tech startups into separate groups among other startups;
- didn't calculate investments in them separately from all startups;
- didn't propose splitting art+tech startups into startups from the physical and digital markets.
LEADERSHIP
An economist in the field of art, professional manager of cultural projects, art investment & collection management consultant. Denis graduated from Sotheby's Institute of Art. Expert in art management, art finance, art funds management.
Held the position of Managing Director of the Contemporary Asian Art Fair at GAAB (Warsaw) and Project Manager of the Peter Konchalovsky Foundation (Moscow). Currently contributes as the International Development advisor to Cube.Moscow, a non-commercial platform under the patronage of Dr. Uli Sigg (Switzerland). Board Member of the International Association of Asian Art Collectors.
Permanent participant in international conferences and forums on the marketing, economy, and tech in the field of art. Author of educational programs and publications on museum marketing, art banking, art+tech, career management of artists, and asset management. Founder of the art financial blog ARTFINEX.
As a Director of Programme have held several international art conferences, like Art & Reality (2010-2012, St.Petersburg and Moscow), GAAB Collectors Summit (2017, Warsaw), Cube.Collectors Summit (2019, Moscow).
Held the position of Managing Director of the Contemporary Asian Art Fair at GAAB (Warsaw) and Project Manager of the Peter Konchalovsky Foundation (Moscow). Currently contributes as the International Development advisor to Cube.Moscow, a non-commercial platform under the patronage of Dr. Uli Sigg (Switzerland). Board Member of the International Association of Asian Art Collectors.
Permanent participant in international conferences and forums on the marketing, economy, and tech in the field of art. Author of educational programs and publications on museum marketing, art banking, art+tech, career management of artists, and asset management. Founder of the art financial blog ARTFINEX.
As a Director of Programme have held several international art conferences, like Art & Reality (2010-2012, St.Petersburg and Moscow), GAAB Collectors Summit (2017, Warsaw), Cube.Collectors Summit (2019, Moscow).
Denis Belkevich
Founder & CEO, Fuelarts
ADVISORY BOARD
Roxanna served as Chief Operating Officer of Christie's Americas, developed several strategic plans, and was a key member of the launch of Christie's online auctions.
She specializes in strategic management with a concentration in supply chain innovation for the art world. Roxanna served as Senior Vice President of Auctions and Private Sales at Artnet and was awarded a Webby Award.
She specializes in strategic management with a concentration in supply chain innovation for the art world. Roxanna served as Senior Vice President of Auctions and Private Sales at Artnet and was awarded a Webby Award.
Roxanna Zarnegar
Co-Founder, Fuelarts startup accelerator / Ex-Vice President, Artnet / Ex-COO, Christie's Americas
Comes with over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship and VC. She is an active angel investor, mentor at 500 Global and Techstars. Co-founded Starta Accelerator, an expansion of New York-based VC firm Starta Ventures. Total investments attracted by Starta portfolio exceeded $90M in both traditional VC rounds and crypto-assets. Achieved 12 exits for her funds in a 4-year time span generating 8x returns for LPs.
Katya Kohen
Co-Founder, Fuelarts startup accelerator / Ex-Vice President, Artnet / Ex-COO, Christie's Americas
KEY FINDINGS
Despite the overwhelming prevalence of NFT startups in media, the largest investment of $240 million received the Classic Art+Tech startup - Kuaikan Media (an online comic bookseller).
01
Despite the overwhelming prevalence of NFT startups in media, the largest investment of $240 million received the Classic Art+Tech startup - Kuaikan Media (an online comic bookseller).
02
During our research, we have found 108 Art+Tech & NFT startups founded or co-founded by female entrepreneurs — 15% of the total number of 702 startups. 40 startups of 108 have women as mono-founders; the rest on average have two co-founders.
03
66 companies (63%) in the "physical" Art Market and 40 companies (37%) in Digital Art Market & NFT are female-founded.
04
During our research, we have found 108 Art+Tech & NFT startups founded or co-founded by female entrepreneurs — 15% of the total number of 702 startups. 40 startups of 108 have women as mono-founders; the rest on average have two co-founders.
05
The cumulative amount invested in TOP-5 Classic Art+Tech startups in each of 5 segments (18 in total) amounted to $1.40 billion, or 78% of the total investment made in 319 Classic Art+Tech startups.
06
The cumulative amount invested in TOP-5 Digital & NFT startups in each of 6 segments (29 in total) equals $1.54 billion, or 86% of the total investment made in 383 Digital & NFT startups.
07
58% of startups have received their first funding within the first six months of the company's launch. If a company did not receive its first investment within the first 6 months, the chance of finding it decreases further threefold. Only 11% of startups received funding two years after they were launched.
08
61% of startups have reached their investors through word-of-mouth. In 90% of cases, investors were recommended to pay attention to a startup by common acquaintances, 10% of them suggested a startup without being familiar with it (according to media reports and other marketing channels).
09
Reaching investors through social networks and professional databases (followed by personal contact) showed less efficiency and amounted overall to 39%.
10
The biggest initial challenge for 47% of Art+Tech startups was finding a market fit. 67% of startups later faced the problem of building a reputation among the art community.
11
How to make the Art+Tech market more comprehensible for startups and transparent for investors – this is the mission of the report and Fuelarts company. Unlike traditional Art Market, this data, including names of the investors, in most cases becomes public — this is a vital step towards the success of a startup in gaining more credibility and further funding.
Why no more than 10% of business ideas go from the idea stage to the bootstrap stage? What are the main problems that Art+Tech startups face? What is the selection process of startups for Venture Capital fund? What fears have investors about NFT? — these and other questions this report is focused on, based on public data recorded on the official resources of analytical companies — Crunchbase and PitchBook — and Fuelarts' database.
KEY RESULTS FROM 2021
THIS APRIL FUELARTS LAUNCHES TWO ONLINE PRE-ACCELERATION PROGRAMS:
- Classic Art+Tech startups devoted to the digital transformation of the traditional Art Market.
- Digital & NFT startups dedicated to startups and NFT based products.
