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Since my investment in Artivive last month, I’ve been asked on several occasions what led me to this decision. Therefore I wanted to share a brief background:

From the first meeting with Sergiu and Codin, I was impressed by these two capable co-founders. They were super hands-on and extremely open to share any kind of information, also the challenges and difficulties they face. In addition, they articulated their vision very well and knew where to go. But first and foremost, they have built one of the coolest tools I have ever seen: A platform that allows artists and creatives to bring life to their analog works through Augmented Reality.

They showed us (Gernot, my great co-investor and me) really striking projects such as the disappearing dinosaur created by street artist Nychos. From this moment, it was clear: this brings conventional art to a completely new dimension.

So let me explain, why I was convinced to invest:

Product: It is very entertaining, everyone who sees it understands it instantly and it helps artists to be even more creative. It also allows to re-interpret existing art, as shown in Artivive’s successful augmentation of X-Ray images of an Egon Schiele exhibition. This allows, for example, to understand the making of art and how it evolved over time. 

Market Place: Artivive aims at creating a market place on which artists are able to animate their analog works through AR and therefore make their works more attractive for collectors. This market place is also suitable for corporates and museums who wish to curate an exhibition that combines conventional art with AR. It would be the world’s first market place of its kind.

Team: As an investor you try to understand the personality of the founders and they are your biggest bet. Since founders want to impress investors, they tend to stay in “pitch mode” even in follow-up meetings and talk solely about how great their future is. While this is justified to a certain extent, investors would like to know whether entrepreneurs have understood product risk, market risk and other challenges along the way. With Artivive, I’ve met two humble and very hard working personalities that are risk-conscious and willing to learn.

Customers: The first museum Artivive was able to convince was the renowned Albertina museum in Vienna. And they used guerrilla tactics to do it. Sergiu and Codin went in as normal visitors, took pictures of the exhibition, animated them and then showed Albertina how their exhibition can be upgraded with Artivive’s Augmented Reality. Boom. Since then, they have worked with Museumsquartier, Belvedere, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Pompidou and many others. You want this kind of can-do attitude in acquiring prestigious customers, who especially in a post-Covid era aim to attract visitors back to their exhibitions.

As with every investment, you never know how it evolves over time. You may succeed or fail. But I have big hopes and immensely believe in what the team at Artivive is doing.

I look forward to being their partner.