US-based online arts platform Artsy has raised $25m in a series C round featuring IDG Capital Partners, an investment affiliate of media and data company IDG, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The round was led by private equity firm Catterton and featured Thrive Capital as well as private investors the Rockefeller family.
Artsy’s website and apps enable users to browse artworks from more than 3,000 galleries and 400 museums across the world and to bid on works from 50 auction houses. Its database, which contains around 250,000 works by 40,000 artists, is free to access for personal and educational purposes.
The series C funding will support an expansion by Artsy into the Chinese market.
IDG Capital previously backed an $18.5m series B round for Artsy in April 2014 that also included the Rockefeller family and a range of angel investors.
Artsy closed a $6m series A round in 2011 featuring Peter Thiel and Thrive Capital, after raising $1.25m in a 2010 seed round led by Thrive Capital that also included Founder Collective and angel investors including Eric Schmidt and Jack Dorsey.
The company had initially raised $160,000 in seed funding from unnamed investors earlier in 2010.