This week, Crowdcube #FundedClub member, Rise Art, announced that it has acquired Irish e-commerce platform, Artfetch. Earlier this year, the online marketplace for contemporary art secured over £516,000 from nearly 200 investors during its equity crowdfunding campaign. The company allows art lovers to easily buy or rent artwork.
Artfetch is described as a curated e-commerce platform for emerging artists. Since its establishment in 2014, the website has represented over 70 international artists by promoting their art online. It was founded by former IMMA board member Patricia Tsouros and her daughter Katie Tsouros.
Sharing details about the acquisition, Katie revealed in a blog post:
“Artfetch has been acquired by London-based Rise Art, an online marketplace who share our vision and values to curate exceptional contemporary art online, and deliver it to customers worldwide with outstanding service. Artfetch will join Rise Art, incorporating our stable of emerging artists withRise Art’s existing portfolio, and continuing to deliver the experience you have come to know and love from Artfetch, asRise Art. We are excited to join a much larger market in the UK and continue to be part of the growth of Rise Art and the online art industry as a whole.”
Tsouros also stated to Irish Times:
“Joining a larger company within an extensive market gives us the opportunity to really further the Artfetch goal of making art-buying easy and accessible. I believe we’re at a pivotal time for this industry, and can look forward to significant growth in the coming months and years.”
Rise Art chief executive Scott Phillips, added:
“Artfetch has always been a wonderful destination to discover great original artwork from up and coming talent.”
Katie will join the Rise Art team as its new brand marketing manager.
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