Niio, a Based in Tel Aviv digital art platform showcasing works from contemporary artists and galleries to NFTs, today announced it has closed a $ 15 million Series A funding following a strategic partnership with Samsung Displays, announced last week.

The round was co-led by L Catterton, a joint venture between LVMH and Catterton, Entrée Capital and Pico Venture Partners. Other investors have also joined, including Saga VC, as well as leading artists, art collectors, museums, gallery owners and administrators of institutions such as MOMA and Guggenheim, as well as Shalom McKenzie, an entrepreneur and investor in online gambling who also invests in NFTs. Prior to the Series A round, Niio had raised $ 8 million, initially from strategic angels, followed by a funding round from institutions in 2017.

Niio will use its capital to develop its community of artists and develop its application-compatible subscription and purchase platform, which is the blockchain.–based and will include a trading marketplace for NFTs and other digital art assets.

“Digital art has become an accepted mainstream medium, with the market accelerating in large part due to the explosive growth of NFTs” noted Niio CEO and Co-Founder Rob Anders. “The transformation people live is the most important and important moment for culture in decades, making new types of art accessible and experienced on screens in ways like never before.

NiioThe technology allows users to stream digital artwork to any digital screen, bridging the art divide and creating a platform similar to what music and entertainment streaming services have done for albums and movies.

Niio, founded by Rob Anders and Oren Moshe in 2014, combines an accessible streaming subscription service with the ability for people to purchase edited NFT artwork directly from artists, galleries and content owners, through its public marketplace or through private transactions, Anders says TechCrunch.

Niio launches its subscription service at the end of 2021, followed by its NFT marketplace, making Niio, backed by a global community of art professionals, the most complete end-to-end solution for the support of digital art and ensures that premium digital art is easily accessible by anyone on any screen, Anders continued.

By providing Niio’s tools to a global community of 6,000 galleries, institutions and artists, Niio’s platform and blockchain enable artists to distribute, manage, monetize and preserve their work.

Niio claims that it will be free for all artists, forever, to respect and support the creative community and the ability of artists to publish, manage and protect their life’s work.

“We have achieved our vision of a platform that first and foremost empowers artists and allows their work to be experienced digitally and available worldwide. We are delighted with the trust placed in us by over 6,000 artists, as we enable them to publish, manage, protect and monetize their life’s work ”, Niio co-founder said Oren Moshe.

Around 10,000 corporate customers around the world have been using the Niio platform for two to three years, Anders said. Clients range from art professionals, including galleries, museums, studios and art schools, to luxury brands, hotel chains and real estate developers, who subscribe and post feeds of art selected from the 15,000 premium works available on the platform, to millions of people across public spaces and locations in over 30 countries, Anders noted.

“There are over a billion smart TVs in the market and our partner Samsung has 30-40% of the market, which contributes to our ability to come up with a ‘last mile’ proposition,” said Anders.

The digital art market should be around $ 50 to $ 100 billion by 2025, according to Anders.

“Digital art has long been on our radar at L Catterton. We are very optimistic about its future and our continued assessment of the sector has brought us to Niio, ”said Michael Farello, Managing Partner of L Catterton’s Growth Fund. “We are convinced that their platform approach comprising both a subscription and an NFT offering, combined with the reputation they have built in the community of critical artists and the validation of their partnership with Samsung, will make it a market leader. “