In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Manuela Seve and Renata Thomé from Alpha’a.
Who are you and what do you do?
Manuela Seve (CEO): I have a background in finance, having worked as an equity analyst at Gávea Investments, one of Brazil’s most reputable investment management firms. My trajectory in the art world began at an early age; coming from a long line of art collectors with a foothold in the Latin American art market.
Renata Thomé (COO): I’ve built an extensive network of collectors, artists and dealers over the years. Before joining Alpha’a, I spent time working for major New York City galleries and auction houses including David Zwirner and in the Latin American art department at Christie’s. I also worked as an art consultant for the online auction house Paddle8.
What problem does your product/service solve?
Filling walls at scale whilst maintaining affordable pricing and high design standards is a massive challenge. Current options are expensive art galleries and art advisors, or posters that are detrimental to design concepts.
Alpha’a is an online, community-oriented platform offering tailor-made art collections for businesses across all industries including hospitality, tech, interior design and more — and makes artists’ works, primarily limited-edition prints, accessible to audiences all around the world through cutting-edge technology. With a network of more than 7,000 artists, we have spearheaded initiatives with notable names in contemporary art such as Ernesto Neto, Jarbas Lopes, Alexandre Arrechea and Nelson Leirner. Alpha’a streamlines the supply chain process by printing pieces directly in the originating country of each client’s business. Clients include Airbnb, Gilt, West Elm and Zola.
What are you most excited about?
We recently opened a new $2 million round, which is well on its way to closing. The funding will be used for the continuing growth of the Alpha’a team in numbers and talent across our business units. This will result in creating new design tools, additional platform tools, more partnerships with local creators and an Alpha’a scholarship program in Latin America.
What’s next for you?
Our goals for Alpha’a are simple and powerful: To become the back office used by every artist in the world, to be the largest global source of art without inventory and to use technology to bring artists and companies together everywhere and anywhere.
What is a cause you’re passionate about and why?
As co-founders we share a passion for saving the world’s ecosystem. Using the arts, including other disciplines such as music and dance, we have created campaigns for a number of sustainability projects. In doing so, Alpha’a has partnered with prestigious NGOs such as Ocean, Globo and The Rainforest Alliance to effectuate change through our global artists community.
Thanks to Manuela and Renata for sharing their story. If you’d like to connect, find Manuela on LinkedIn here and Renata here.
We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).
Source: geekestateblog.com