TRLab announced that it has secured a $5 million seed round investment led by Hivemind Capital and OKX Ventures
Since its establishment in New York and Hong Kong, TRLab has been dedicated to collaborating with artists, foundations, and art institutions to incubate and produce, while providing collectors with high-quality digital art interactive experiences.
Founders of TRLab, Li Xin (Chair) and Ou Jinqiao (CEO)
• The women-led TRLab collaborates with top global artists, foundations, and art institutions to launch multiple educational original digital art experiences.
• Founders Li Xin and Ou Jinqiao combine their high-quality experience accumulated at leading international auction houses and important contemporary art museums, placing interactive experiences at the core of their art projects, exploring new avenues in the digital realm.
• This round of funding will be used to expand the influence of the two-year-old startup in the international market and continue to incubate new projects in collaboration with global artists, foundations, and institutions.
September 6, 2023 --- The innovative company TRLab, which merges top art with cutting-edge technology, announced that it has raised $5 million in seed funding, led by leading investment firms in the blockchain sector, Hivemind Capital Partners and OKX Ventures, with participation from HashKey Group's investment branch, HashKey Capital.
The successful completion of this funding round marks another instance of this women-founded and led team gaining favor in the capital markets. TRLab was co-founded and led in 2021 by Li Xin, the non-executive vice chairman of Christie's, and CEO Ou Jinqiao, incubated by Dragonfly Capital, and has received support from numerous heavyweight art collectors and tech entrepreneurs, including the founders of Pace Gallery, Animoca Brands, BAI Capital, as well as the world's largest online art trading platform Artsy and top contemporary art institution Shanghai Bund Art Museum (RAM).
Since its establishment in New York and Hong Kong, TRLab has been dedicated to collaborating with artists, foundations, and art institutions to incubate and produce high-quality digital art interactive experiences for collectors. To date, TRLab's platform has collaborated with mainstream fashion magazine Vogue, the foundation of the 20th century's most important sculptor Alexander Calder, the Calder Foundation, contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, and the digital art institution Rhizome affiliated with the New Museum in New York to launch multiple projects. TRLab's philosophy combines online learning, interactive challenges, and digital art collection, making it easier for audiences in the digital age to engage with and understand contemporary art and art history. Using a "play-to-learn" approach, TRLab has educated participants from 60 different countries about Alexander Calder's prolific career and works, with multifaceted collaborations with the Calder Foundation set to continue into 2024.
This round of funding will be used to bring in more artists, foundations, and cultural institutions to collaborate with TRLab, expand the company's market share internationally, and integrate new technologies to enhance the digital art collection experience. In the next six months, TRLab will launch several digital art experiences in collaboration with renowned artists and foundations and will hold its first offline art exhibition in November this year.
Ou Jinqiao, Co-founder and CEO of TRLab, stated: "We are honored to gain the favor and support of Hivemind and OKX Ventures by pioneering a new way of collecting artworks. TRLab has been establishing our unique style in the digital art field and has built a solid foundation by following our mission, uncovering broader development space. This also proves the huge demand for digital-centric art experiences, as our original digital art projects continuously promote a deeper understanding of art and artists."
Hivemind and OKX Ventures view TRLab's unique values as key factors in their investment decisions and will provide strategic support for TRLab in the U.S. and Asian markets, respectively.
Zhang Yechuan, Founder and Managing Partner of Hivemind Capital Partners, stated: "Hivemind believes that TRLab has the ability to lead a cultural renaissance in the digital art era, perfectly merging world-renowned artworks with cutting-edge technology. With their team's vision and outstanding partnerships, we are excited to support them in pioneering the future of high-end digital collections."
Jeff Ren, Partner at OKX Ventures, stated: "OKX Ventures firmly believes in the transformative power that art can bring during the digitalization process. TRLab diversifies art collection, and their team has pioneered a new era of combining digital technology with timeless artistic expression. We are honored to support such a mission."
About TRLab
TRLab combines innovative technology with contemporary art, dedicated to pioneering the future of art collection. Since its establishment in 2021, TRLab has successfully launched digital art collection experiences in collaboration with several leading digital and traditional artists, including the multi-quarter educational project "The Calder Question" developed in partnership with the Calder Foundation; the interactive collection journey "Your Daytime Fireworks" in collaboration with contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Lumen Prize; and the first digital art collection series "Vogue Meta-Ocean" curated by Vogue globally. The limited edition NFT series "Blast Yourself," co-developed with Cai Guo-Qiang in 2021, is now permanently collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
About Hivemind Capital Partners
Hivemind Capital Partners is an investment firm focused on Web3 and blockchain technology. Hivemind is dedicated to standardizing digital asset investment, combining crypto-native technology and expertise with institutional-level risk management and practices. Hivemind adopts a research-driven and multi-strategy approach, unlocking the potential for digital assets to become an investable asset class by providing carefully curated and scalable consulting to institutional investors. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the United States, Hivemind has offices around the globe.
About OKX Ventures
OKX Ventures is the investment arm of the global top trading platform OKX.com, focused on discovering the best blockchain projects worldwide, supporting cutting-edge blockchain technology innovations, and promoting the vigorous development of the global blockchain industry, with a focus on long-term structural value investments. OKX Ventures has an initial capital of $100 million. We are committed to supporting entrepreneurs who contribute to the development of the blockchain industry in building top-tier companies and bringing global resources and industry experience to blockchain projects.
About HashKey
HashKey Capital is an institutional-grade asset management company focused on the digital asset and blockchain industry, with a digital-native and global layout, helping traditional institutions, Web3 founders, and top talents capture high-growth opportunities in the blockchain industry. As one of the most influential and largest crypto funds globally, and one of the earliest institutional investors in Ethereum, HashKey Capital has managed over $1 billion in assets since its inception and has invested in over 500 projects across various tracks, including infrastructure, tools, and applications. With a deep understanding of the global blockchain industry, the HashKey team has built an ecosystem connecting entrepreneurs, investors, developers, community participants, and regulatory bodies.
