Interesting startup aiming to make luxury goods investment more accessible

[FreelanceToFreedom]

I was listening to a podcast today (Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs, episode Eureka 111) and heard an interview with the founder of a new startup called TEND. I found it really interesting, and figured I'd share here.

Disclaimer: I'm not at all endorsing this company or encouraging investing in their offerings. I don't even think it's open to the public yet. Just wanted to start a discussion because I think it's pretty interesting.

Basically, the company takes luxury assets (collectible cars, rare wines, coins, vineyards, etc) and puts their ownership on the blockchain. They create tokens, which people can buy. This essentially creates a shared ownership of the single asset (lets say, a rare car).

The really unique spin on this one though is that they let you actually use the item. So for instance, with a car you might get 4 days of use in a year where you can actually cruise around in the thing.

So I guess it's part investment, part time-share, part speculation on luxury collectible appreciation?


Again - NOT endorsing this at all, but it's a cool idea!

https://www.tendswiss.com/

[ender]

Insurance on the items has to be nuts.

[FreelanceToFreedom]

Insurance on the items has to be nuts.

That's true, especially with a rare car.

The sharing aspect makes more sense in some of the other examples they give. For example, they list a vineyard where you get X bottles per year to drink, a tour of the facilities, etc.

[runbikerun]

I'm not sure that a limited version of this doesn't already exist in various forms. I've looked into investing in distilleries and breweries near to where I live, and they generally involve a degree of reward - an annual dinner for the owners of the first 500 barrels, or free birthday drinks in the taproom of the brewery on your birthday.

I'm also completely unconvinced that there's any purpose to the ownership details being stored on a blockchain beyond trying to get publicity for the startup.

[talltexan]

Isn't kick-starter kind of a package for offering this?

I doubt the appeal is going to be as strong as it seems: i remember watching "House Hunters: Private Island Edition", and the top goal of the husband was to buy an island that had never, ever been developed in any measure before. Everything done on the island they would be the first ones doing it.