The Democratic Art Connoisseur: Asif Kamal In 2023, Artfi onboarded Sacha Jafri, one of the highest paid living artists in the world. It also consigned artworks from Artists like M F Husain, V S Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, and Krishen Khanna from Modern and Contemporary Fine Art and had partnered with Bollywood actor Salman Khan to bring his paintings to life for retail investors

Having set up an art-house very early in his twenties in New Delhi, Asif Kamal knows the art market inside out. This includes the underlying reality of art being limited to the rich and wealthy. "For centuries, art has been a symbol of prestige and wealth. It indicates social status and a sense of belonging but that's not all. The Global Art Market is $1.7 trillion. The value of art goes beyond its intellectual appeal. The wealthy use art as a long-term store of value and a hedge against inflation, as art is not subject to the same market fluctuations as other financial investments. But in a world where global inflation is climbing all-time highs, why should the financial benefits of art be restricted only to the wealthy?" shares Kamal.

This realization led him to establish Artfi, a platform that blends art and blockchain to create a platform that is making investing in art accessible. As of date, it has secured approximately 50k unique users so far and has collaborated with Binance, Polygon, Certik, Thirdweb, and Shuftipro. So, what makes his concept stand out? "Arfi is a financial and art Technology Company that aims to democratize investing in high-value works of art that have previously been available only to ultra-wealthy collectors. By lowering the entry levels, Artfi will widen the interest and spending towards the art market, as it struggles to grow because the international art market has become over-reliant on a "niche group of ultrawealthy buyers," shares Kamal.

"What makes Artfi stand out is its use of real-world asset tokenization. This means highend art pieces can be shared among many small investors as NFTs, something that wasn't possible before," he adds.

In 2023, Artfi onboarded Sacha Jafri, one of the highest paid living artists in the world. It also consigned artworks from Artists like M F Husain, V S Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, and Krishen Khanna from Modern and Contemporary Fine Art and had partnered with Bollywood actor Salman Khan to bring his paintings to life for retail investors.

At present, it charges a seller commission of 20 per cent and was valued at $100 million in its last fundraising round. Up next, Kamal is on a mission to onboard the top 100 masters of world art onto the Artfi platform.

Factsheet-

No. Of Co-Founders: 1

Number Of Employees: 20-30

Year Of Inception 2022

External Investors Landmark Group, Uae, Dwf Labs & Her Highness Sheikha Hend Faisal Ai Qassemi (Sharjah Ruling Family)