Curioos

Curioos was a New York-based online marketplace for digital art, founded in 2011 by Mathieu Valoatto and Natacha Huguet-Millot. The platform operated as a curated peer-to-peer marketplace, providing a space for digital illustrators, photomanipulators, and 3D designers from over 90 countries to showcase and sell their work. Its business model centered on empowering both established and emerging artists by transforming their digital creations into high-quality physical art prints.

The company offered gallery-quality prints that were numbered, signed, and stamped, and each piece was sent with a certificate of authenticity, ensuring value for both the artist and the collector. This approach aimed to make digital art more accessible to a broader audience while creating a viable monetization channel for the artists on the platform. The marketplace was distinguished by its invitation-only system for artists, which helped maintain a high standard of curated content.

From its inception, Curioos garnered investor interest, raising a total of $3.39 million over three funding rounds. The initial seed round took place in September 2012, followed by another in April 2014, and culminated in a Series A round of $1.9 million in October 2014. This capital supported the company's mission to bridge the gap between digital creation and physical art collection. Despite its efforts and early funding success, Curioos reportedly ceased operations around 2020-2021. Keywords: digital art, art marketplace, e-commerce, print-on-demand, curated platform, artist empowerment, peer-to-peer, art prints, online gallery, art collecting