Only eight months after launching with a $31 million Series A, alternative asset auction platform Alt has raised an additional $75 million.
The Series B round was led by AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant and Accomplice co-founder Jeff Fagnan. Other investors included Seven Seven Six, a fund co-founded by Alex Ohanian, as well as several sports celebrities, including Tom Brady, Candace Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Morgan and Marlon Humphrey. Kevin Durant participated in the Series A back in March, according to Crunchbase.
The company authenticates the items on its auction platform — mostly trading cards for now — and stores them in its own physical vault. Owners are charged 0.39% of an asset's value until it is sold, at which point Alt takes a 1.5% commission. Around 99% of the sports cards in its portfolio stay in its vault even after being sold because buyers are using them as investments, according to TechCrunch.
Alt wants to expand into more types of assets over the next few years, including nonfungible tokens (or NFTs), watches, comic books and sneakers, the company said.
“We define alternative assets as any asset that a traditional bank does not consider real collateral,” President Nicole Colombo said in a statement Thursday announcing the funding. “Where the banks stop, Alt starts. We want to be the financial platform for the next generation of assets.”
The platform doesn't just have sports cards in its vault. One of its priciest assets is a first edition Charizard Pokéman card from 1999 that's valued at more than $9,800. The owner of that card is asking for a minimum of $1.6 million.
A 2011 Colin Kaepernick rookie patch autograph card that's valued at just under $1,700 is asking for a $5 million minimum. Meanwhile, a 2017 Patrick Mahomes II Panini Prizm card valued at close to $400,000 is asking for at least $1 million.
In total, Alt says it manages $70 million-worth of assets in its physical vault. It is headquartered in San Francisco, according to Crunchbase.
Mobile apps for both iOS and Android users are expected to launch at the end of November.
