Andrea Danese – Startup Investor Profile

Andrea Danese, CEO of New York City-based Athena Art Finance Corp., aims to create a new asset class in the financial markets. The company is fully capitalized with $280 million allocated and is owned by Carlyle Private Equity and Pictet Private Equity in Geneva. Athena Art Finance provides financing for the art market using art as collateral, focusing primarily on blue-chip painting and sculpture. Their loans range from $1 million to $50 million. Danese plans to build a large enough portfolio of loans over the next 4-5 years that could be prepackaged for the broader investor market, potentially creating a new asset class of securities backed by art.

Location: New York, NY

Country: Italy

Investment Regions:

Investment Stages: pre-seed, seed

Website:

AI Reasoning: Found LinkedIn profile showing Andrea Danese active roles through 2024 (Associate Professor at Sotheby’s Institute starting Mar 2024, advisor role at Reask starting Oct 2023) and Athena Art Finance activities earlier. There is evidence of professional activity in 2024, within 6 months from the reference date, and involvement with Artem Advisors ongoing since 2019. Also media coverage shows investments/loans by Athena historically; most recent confirmed activity is in 2024, which is less than 6 months prior to the reference date, indicating very active status. Example of invested company/startup: Artem Advisors (co-founder/manager) and advisory roles with Reask; Athena Art Finance provided loans to art collectors (e.g., blue-chip painting and sculpture).

Low Activity – Only known angel investments more than 12 months ago.

Active – Known angel investments between the last 12 and 6 months.

Very Active – Known angel investments in the last 6 months.