2011
Specialising in Contemporary art in the $1000-100,000 price bracket, the firm focuses on timed sales.
2012
Auctionata launches in Berlin.
The firm focuses on live ‘real time’ online sales.
2013
Auctionata sells an Egon Schiele watercolour for €1.5m.
2014
Auctionata expands into New York Co-founder Alexander Zacke tells Bloomberg he “doubts there’s room for more than one big site. The question is, who is going to occupy this space?”
March 2015
Auctionata attracts $45m funds from investors including LVMH’s Bernard Arnault.
April 2015
Auctionata restructures. Staff laid off in New York and Berlin.
May 2015
Paddle8 moves into two floors of the Bloomsbury Auctions building in Maddox Street. Its team in London grows from one to 15 people across the year.
June 2015
Auctionata sells a Qianlong automaton clock for €3.37m.
The winning bidder, Liu Yiqian, founder of Shanghai’s Long Museum, makes his bid by phone.
October 2015
Auctionata acquires the sevenyear- old London-based valuation company Value My Stuff.
October 2015
High-profile names including David Zwirner, Jay Jopling and Damien Hirst bankroll the Paddle8 brand to the tune of $34m, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $44m.
April 2016
A report by accounting firm KPMG accuses Auctionata of a number of serious trade violations and ethical breaches, including the suggestion that company executives had received generous advances on consignments and operated a shill bidding scheme.
May 2016
Auctionata and Paddle8 merge to form a company claiming $150m in joint annual sales. Zacke says “it makes sense to join forces as you close in on the summit”.
June 2016
More than a dozen people leave Paddle8 as the company seeks to bring together two websites and two customer databases.
July 2016
Fellow online auctioneer, ArtList, folds after two difficult years.
October 2016
Alexander and Susanne Zacke leave the management team of Auctionata.
January 2017
Auctionata-Paddle8 files for preliminary insolvency.
