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Art and luxury item marketplace operator The Artling has raised a series A worth US$1.75 million, it announced today. The funding comes from Edipresse Media, a European luxury lifestyle media company.

The Artling was founded in 2013 in Singapore by Talenia Phua Gajardo. Talenia worked for renowned architect Zaha Hadid in London and is heavily involved in Singapore’s art scene.

The Artling will hire more people and focus more on marketing.

The Artling operates TheArtling.com, an online art gallery that offers curated works of art for sale, and the more recently launched Luxglove, a marketplace for luxury and collectible items, including pre-owned jewelry, watches, artworks, and even classic cars and old whiskey.

Owners of such items (both private collectors and stores) can approach the company and the team curates, photographs, and uploads the listings on the website. Talenia says Luxglove recently arranged the sale of a vintage car and a bottle of a 50-year-old Yamazaki single malt worth US$60,000. So this goes a tad beyond the usual Carousell fare.

“We’ve been keeping things lean for a while and have had an extremely conservative burn rate to date,” Talenia tells Tech in Asia. “Both platforms are now at the stage where we need to ramp up and expand.”

The startup will use the funding to hire more people and focus more on marketing, two areas it held off on previously in order to control its spending. It will also be moving into a larger space as the team grows.

Its new relationship with Edipresse will also provide useful connections in the luxury and lifestyle world.

Sharing the art

Additionally, the company announced it has acquired Artshare, a Hong Kong-based website that offers a look into local exhibitions and galleries and allows users to buy selected works.

The terms of the deal are not disclosed. The acquisition will help The Artling expand its footprint in Hong Kong and the Chinese art world.

Artshare founder Alexandre Errera will continue as advisor to The Artling, while Artshare’s brand will be fully incorporated into the Singaporean company.

Talenia says The Artling’s revenue has doubled year-on-year but does not share any specific numbers.

The Artling raised a seed round of US$200,000 from angel investors in 2014.

This post Singapore’s The Artling raises $1.78 series A to be the go-to online art gallery for Asia appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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