InterviewArt meets fintech: Nouveau Soleil pioneers financial future of art sector

The dashboard of Nouveau Soleil’s Kunstkammer platform, which offers AI-powered art valuation and integrated asset management services / Courtesy of Nouveau Soleil

The Korean art market continues to grapple with structural challenges stemming from information asymmetry and a lack of price transparency, as details regarding transaction parties and prices are rarely disclosed.

Nevertheless, artworks are increasingly being recognized not only as objects of appreciation but also as assets used for inheritance, donations and investment.

In line with this shift, the market has shown rapid growth. According to the report published by the Korea Arts Management Service, the total transaction volume of the domestic art market surged from 329 billion won ($238 million) in 2021 to 922.3 billion won in 2022, nearly a threefold increase in just one year.

Regulatory changes are also underway. The Art Promotion Act, which took effect in July 2024, requires more systematic management and greater transparency in the operation of artworks, particularly within public institutions. As a result, demand is growing for tools that enable objective, data-driven valuation of artworks.

Choi Yun-hye, founder and CEO of Nouveau Soleil / Courtesy of Nouveau Soleil

In response to this trend, Korean startup Nouveau Soleil officially launched its platform, Kunstkammer, in November 2024.

The platform allows users to predict the value of artworks based on data and manage them as financial assets. By doing so, the company is introducing a new paradigm in the art fintech sector.

Its major clients now include public institutions, financial organizations, art museums, resorts and foreign embassies based in Korea.

Choi Yun-hye, also known as Yune Choi, founder and CEO of Nouveau Soleil, emphasized that digitalizing art asset management is not merely a matter of convenience, but a critical step toward bringing greater transparency and predictability to the art market.

"With a background in art history, I have worked across the public and private sectors from discovering emerging artists to overseeing corporate art collections involving thousands of works," Choi said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "Throughout this journey, I realized that although many institutions and companies own artworks, they often lack both the systems and trained personnel to manage them properly."

She noted that for many corporate staff, especially those without a background in art, managing these collections is a persistent challenge.

"After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, numerous companies underwent mergers and acquisitions, and their art collections were left in limbo, often being moved from one storage site to another and eventually forgotten. I found it deeply unfortunate that significant cultural assets were being neglected and that non-experts were left struggling to care for them," she said. "That motivated me to launch a platform that serves as a practical guide to help organizations manage their collections in a structured and professional way."

Nouveau Soleil is led by art expert Choi and data scientist Park Jae-hyuk, who specializes in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), and previously worked at Meta.

Park serves as the startup's tech lead and also holds a concurrent position as an assistant professor at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management. At the company, he oversees the technical side of the business, combining advanced data analytics with insights into the dynamics of the art market to enable a deeper understanding of the value embedded in art assets.

The name Nouveau Soleil means "new sun" in French, reflecting the company's vision to shed new light on the traditional art ecosystem and foster a more open connection between art and society, Choi explained. Its platform, Kunstkammer, takes its name from the German word meaning "a room of art."

Willem van Haecht’s 1628 painting "Cornelis van der Geest's Kunstkammer," which inspired the concept behind Nouveau Soleil’s Kunstkammer platform / Courtesy of Nouveau Soleil

Choi noted that during the Age of Exploration, roughly spanning the 15th to 17th centuries, a Kunstkammer referred not merely to a collection of artworks, but to a curated space where explorers organized knowledge and conveyed their worldview through art.

"The Kunstkammer platform goes beyond simply storing artworks, serving as a digital asset management system that helps transform them into valuable assets," Choi said. "It offers core features for digitally registering and tracking the full history of each piece — including detailed artwork information, artist data, purchase records and appraisal details — within a unified system. Additionally, the platform is designed to integrate with specialized art services such as AI-powered price forecasting, insurance, transportation and restoration."

Kunstkammer's key distinction lies in its design, which combines art historical insight with financial analysis, becoming a practical tool to offer an integrated asset management solution that supports both forecasting and active management of art assets for institutions and collectors.

Choi pointed out that the role of AI and data analytics is not to replace the essence of art, but to improve market transparency and trust, enabling more people to appreciate and benefit from art's value.

"What sets our platform apart is its ability to provide an end-to-end asset management solution that goes beyond simple storage," Choi said. "By integrating AI-based market value prediction, an art history-informed metadata framework and customized reporting, we enable clients not only to preserve their art holdings but also to invest in them and manage them strategically."

She added, "We are not just offering a piece of software, but building a service model designed to meet the demands of an evolving art market increasingly focused on asset value and financial strategy."

Recognized for its growth potential, the startup was recently selected to join Seoul Fintech Lab as one of six new membership companies. Choi described the selection as an acknowledgment of the platform's economic and social value in positioning artworks as viable investment and utility assets within the fintech ecosystem.

Established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the incubator provides comprehensive support to fintech startups.

"This selection opens the door for us to engage more deeply with financial institutions, public agencies and investors. Being part of a network of vetted companies within Seoul Fintech Lab gives us the structure and support needed to pursue higher standards and seize meaningful opportunities for growth," she said.

To expand further, the company is actively working on new initiatives in collaboration with partners across a wide range of industries. Currently, it is focusing on projects that incorporate privately owned artworks into leisure and hospitality spaces.

Leveraging its technology, the company also plans to introduce new financial service models that connect art with areas such as insurance, trusts and philanthropy.

On the global front, the company aims to strategically enter emerging art markets like Abu Dhabi, Bangkok and Hong Kong, where digital infrastructure is still in its early stages.

"With the growing global interest in Korean culture and technology, we see a positive outlook for our international expansion," Choi said. "We are developing specialized services tailored for leisure venues, hotels, cultural organizations and a select group of collectors, alongside our art asset management platform."