Private placement in NFT for luxury provenance: Clipperton acted as sole financial advisor to ARIANEE and its founders Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel and Frédéric Montagnon on an €8m financing round.

Arianee Application Showcase

  • Arianee is a global specialist in the digital certification of valuables using blockchain applications. With its pioneering NFT for luxury the company’s platform enables the creation of a digital passport for each object, guaranteeing its authenticity, securing its resale, and allowing brands to maintain a perpetual relationship with the product owner and to offer him additional services associated to its product.
  • The transaction provides Arianee with significant financial resources to support its growth and accelerate the development of its technology.
  • The transaction highlights Clipperton’s experience in the RetailTech and luxury industries after advising transactions for players such as Lengow, Cubyn, Iadvize and Vestiaire Collective among many others.

Our client

  • Since its creation in 2017, Arianee has aimed to become a leading partner in the rapidly evolving luxury and fashion industries, with the objective of offering them solutions perfectly adapted to their challenges. This vision led to the development of the Arianee protocol, a new standard for issuing encrypted digital passports on the blockchain, available in open.
  • Thanks to its technology, at the forefront of blockchain-based solutions, Arianee has become the partner of reference for luxury brands: the Arianee solution allows brands to create a NFT for each of their products. This token guarantees a product’s authenticity and further allows brands to maintain a perpetual relationship with the product owner(s).
  • In 2020, Arianee completed its value proposition by developing a SaaS platform that makes its technology directly accessible to brands wishing to integrate it. Brands can offer their customers a customized and personalized experience by developing their own user interface as well as producing digital passports in real time, directly from their IT infrastructure.
  • Arianee’s value proposition has already convinced leading luxury brands such as Richemont, Ba&sh, Breitling, Vacheron Constantin, Panerai, Audemars Piguet, Roger Dubuis, MB&F, Verlan, Satoshi studio, Olistic and Manufacture Royale.

Deal highlights & rationale

  • This private placement will allow Arianee to accelerate its growth and to shape a powerful and solid community of luxury players around its protocol. Arianee’s team will also be involved in the development of new features to expand brands’ possibilities on the platform.
  • The transaction is a mix of equity raised and of sold tokens.
  • The financing round is led by Bpifrance, which invests in tokens for the first time since its inception, and ISAI. This round is then followed by Cygni Labs, Noia Capital Funds and various successful French entrepreneurs (Thibaut Elziere, Jonathan Cherki, Jonathan Benhamou, Clément Buyse, among others).

Clipperton’s role

  • Clipperton advised ARIANEE in finding the right investors for this original equity x token round.
  • Emphasizing on Clipperton’s expertise in the sector of RetailTech as well as luxury industries, this transaction is another proof of Clipperton’s ability to successfully advise innovative players in this industry.
  • Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, Co-founder & CEO, stated « This round of discussions confirms our initial vision: tomorrow, all objects will have a digital counterpart, and customer relationships will be decentralized and respectful of private personal data. The strategic and financial assistance of Clipperton was key to ensure a successful process and to get one step closer to achieve our vision.»
  • Thomas Neveux commented « We are proud to have successfully assisted Arianee and its founding team on this new fundraising. Arianee has been a pioneer in NFTs, a technology that we believe will be game-changing for the luxury industry in the years to come. »

Deal team 

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About Clipperton                 

Clipperton is a leading investment bank dedicated to technology and growth companies: we provide strategic and financial advisory to entrepreneurs, corporates and top-tier investors in Europe willing to execute transactions such as strategic M&A, private equity transactions and private placements. Founded in 2003 and with offices in Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, New York and Beijing, Clipperton has completed over 300 M&A and private placement transactions with fast-growing technology start-ups, blue-chip corporates and renowned financial investors.