Masterworks

Masterworks Advisers LLC is an American financial services company that specializes in the Art Investment market. Traditionally, Masterworks will buy a piece of art and file it to the SEC as a Public offering, the company will then sell shares of the art on their website for varying costs. Rather than selling art as an aesthetic or personal investment, the company sells art purely as a financial commodity. As of December 2023, Masterworks has 800,000 members and $900 million in assets under its management. The company has notably sold artworks by Banksy, George Condo, Cecily Brown, Simone Leigh, Claude Monet, and Andy Warhol.

History
Masterworks was founded in 2017 by Scott Lynn to make the art market more accessible to investors. However, the company has since strayed from this business model and has begun to prioritize wealthy clients.

In 2021, Masterworks raised $110 million in Series A funding, led by Left Lane Capital. The backing valued the company at more than $1 billion. By February 2022, the company had bought more than 100 paintings, worth nearly $450 million

In June 2023, it was reported that only 5% of the sites registered users had actually made an investment. The company is also known for its large marketing push, as the company nearly doubled its marketing from $5 million to $9 million. Several employees have also reported "unethical" tactics to get better Ad placements on websites.

Scott Lynn was quoted as saying, "They know who Basquiat is, or Kaws...They don’t know the other artists. Out of 150,000 investors, very few are art world people."