The new company focused on trading card collectors just raised over $30 million in funding.
Alt, an alternative asset platform that allows investors to manage a portfolio centered around sports trading cards, announced its launch on March 11th and has secured $31 million in funding.
Founded by longtime collector Leore Avidar, Alt seeks to make sports card investing more transparent and less intimidating by providing historical price data, fraud protection, and low fees.
Avidar created the API company Lob in 2015, and is now carrying that knowledge into this newest venture. Thanks to a special set of tools, Alt will allow investors to keep up with the market values of their portfolios in real time, and all in one place.
“For decades, stocks, bonds, and foreign exchange have been the predominant investment vehicles, largely because they have been the most transparent and liquid,” Avidar said in the company’s first blog post. “Sports cards have been even less accepted as mainstream investment vehicles, despite the fact that they represent a great store of value and return uncorrelated with broader public markets.”
“This is why I founded Alt – to increase the transparency and liquidity of alternative assets.”
Alt’s fundraising was aided by big names including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Tobias Harris of the Philadelphia 76ers, Arizona Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman of Thirty Five Ventures, and sports business reporter Darren Rovell.
Alt will authenticate each asset through an in-house team, then store purchased cards in a user’s vault. That doesn’t mean they won’t ever again see the light of day, however. Users will be able to show off their portfolios with Alt’s shareable gallery, which features high-resolution photos of each collectible.
And trading cards are just the beginning.
“Alt is redefining alternative assets to include new asset classes that have historically been relegated to the territory of hobbyists and collectors, rather than investors,” Avidar said. “With Alt, we’re turning sports cards – and eventually watches, sneakers, and art – into investable assets.”
You can register for an account now at Alt’s official website.
