Freeport Offers Fractional Art Investments, Launches With Warhols

Freeport, a fractional art investment platform, has launched for investors pitching a series of Warhol prints.

Fractional investing is growing in interest as alternative asset classes can benefit from technology to simplify the process of purchasing a portion of an asset and potentially benefit from a return or gain in value.

While there are other fractional art investment platforms, Freeport says they are different because they have created a digital gallery where investors can display the art alongside other digital assets. At the same time, Freeport is built using blockchain technology, and the platform says it will have the capacity to offer lending against the art via smart contracts or the ability for investors to display art in the metaverse.

Freeport is offering the tokenized art under the Reg A+ securities exemption, which allows anyone to participate in the investment. The company states that its offering was recently qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the offering circular is viewable here.

Freeport aims to differentiate itself from other digital asset offerings by pursuing a regulatory-compliant securities offering.

Colin Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Freeport, says that during the recent crypto crackdown by the SEC, they were uncertain if their security offering was going to be approved by the SEC.

“I’m thrilled to announce that not only are we launching on schedule, but we also created a true blueprint for bringing value on-chain, safely, and legally. This further underscores both the strength of our business strategy, and our mission to create a platform that strikes the perfect balance between actualizing the unique and interesting benefits of web3 technologies, while also remaining compliant.”

The inaugural collection launch consists of four Andy Warhol prints. Freeport states that the prints were acquired from the collections of Michael Haber and Jane Holzer (aka ‘Baby Jane Holzer,’ one of Warhol’s early muses), and include artworks such as “Marilyn” (1967), “Double Mickey Mouse” (1981), “Mick Jagger” (1975), and “Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean)” (1985). Each piece consists of 10,000 shares, with a minimum investment of 10 per individual, allowing no more than 1,000 individuals to own a piece of each Warhol.

Holzer said she is a lifelong art collector and passionate about Warhol. She added that Warhol was also a “dear friend” who pushed the envelope of the art world.

“Freeport too is pushing the art envelope with their offering to democratize art ownership. They’re disruptively bridging a gap between art appreciation and ownership for all.”

Johnson pointed to the ease of entry into the asset class and that in some cases an investment can be made for less than 200 dollars.