Curina Announces $900,000 Seed Financing to Make Fine Art Available to Everyone

NEW YORK - EntSun -- Curina (www.curina.co), an art startup focused on making fine art available to all, today announced a $900,000 seed round led by Hideaki Fukutake of Benesse Corporation and other notable Japanese and American angel investors. Founded in 2019 with a mission to empower artists, Curina is the leading subscription-based fine art marketplace, with over 1,500 artworks by emerging artists, enabling customers to showcase gallery-quality art at home for as little as $38 per month.

The raise comes at an exciting time for Curina and the broader art world. In the last six months alone, Curina's revenue surpassed its revenue for all of 2020. Funding will help Curina enhance the company's services, onboard new artists onto its growing platform, build its team, and expand its partnership and marketing efforts.

"As an art lover myself, I founded Curina after struggling to find original artworks that I love at prices I could afford," said Curina Founder and CEO Mio Asatani. "With this new funding, we'll be able to expand our offerings, reach more art lovers, and increase our support for talented emerging artists."

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Simultaneously with the raise, Curina is adding Steven Abt, co-founder and former CEO of Caskers, as its Chief Strategy Officer and to its board of directors.  At Caskers, Abt built the first  ecommerce platform focused on bringing craft and rare spirits to enthusiasts around the country.  He led the company for nearly five years until its sale to Flaviar. Prior, he was an attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

"Curina has put together the best sales platform for artists, and offers incredible value to art enthusiasts," said Abt. "I'm incredibly excited about Curina's focus on supporting creators and providing an exceptional customer experience. Mio and her team have already accomplished a tremendous amount, and I can't wait to see what we do next."

About Curina
Curina is a subscription platform for renting original art from emerging artists and galleries. Curina opens the door for the young generation of art collectors to the often intimidating art scene by giving them the flexibility of paying monthly and deciding later if they want to purchase, swap, or return the artworks as their preferences and lifestyles change.

The company was founded in 2019 by Mio Asatani, shortly after earning her MBA at Columbia Business School.