Just two weeks before their final exams, Mattis and Jeppe Curth found two art collectors prepared to invest in the art app they had designed at Aarlborg University. The idea was to create a social marketplace where art collectors could connect with galleries and each others’ collections.

The day after their finals, the brothers moved to Copenhagen and rented a flat. Working from coffee shops, they researched their market and recruited a web developer. At the end of August, they launched the first Artland app from their new basement office.

The idea is simple: the app is free to users, but galleries pay a flat subscription rate every month. Collectors can connect with the galleries to negotiate purchases and arrange delivery.

“Art collections are hard to find,” explains Mattis Curth, CEO. “How do you know where they are, and who owns them? The problem with collections is that very few people usually get to see them. So we tap into that community and enable our users to find art and share collections if they want to. If they want to protect their privacy, they can do so by using an alias.” Read more