Dive Brief:

• Four-year-old online auction startup Paddle8 Wednesday announced $34 million in a Series C funding round, including from New York City gallery owner David Zwirner, who is also joining its board, and other big players in the art, luxury, and tech worlds. That brings the site’s total fundraising to $44 million.

• Paddle8 runs auctions for lower-priced items in addition to large ones, and includes sneaker collectibles and, last year, the only copy of hip-hop group Wu Tang Clan’s double album, “The Wu — Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” as well as other items unusual for the art world.

• The startup boasts of serving more than 500,000 collectors in 90 countries, including in Asia, where collecting is growing. Paddle8 says it is working to grow its number of for-profit auctions and private sales account to 75% of its business in the next two years, pivoting somewhat from its many charity auctions. Total revenues in 2014 totaled $35.8 million, a 146% increase from 2013 and total revenue in the first half of 2015 has reached $25 million, according to the company’s press release.

Dive Insight:

While eBay’s bread-and-butter has been in online auctions, including of collectibles, that site has shifted its major focus to set-price sales of more mundane new and used items. EBay and Sotheby’s did make good on their partnership earlier this year in an effort to catch up to Christie’s, whose e-commerce has been stronger.

But Paddle8 is a rising up-and-comer that has captured the attention of major players in the art world, including British artist and collector Damien Hirst, London gallery owner Jay Jopling, collector Rolf Sachs, and Zwirner. Sony Music Entertainment chairman of international business Edgar Berger, investment firm the Founder Collective, and the Winklevoss twins are also Paddle8 investors.

“We have an extensive back-end system that cuts all the extraneous costs,” Paddle8 co-founder Aditya Julka told the New York Times. “The customer experience is dramatically better.”

Paddle8 authenticates all merchandise, sources items sold on its site, and runs all auctions exclusively online. But the startup sees its competition not just in online efforts from traditional auction houses or even other e-commerce efforts in the space, but in brick-and-mortar auction houses and galleries. The company sees itself as a disruptive force in collectibles.

"This is a crucial time for the art and luxury markets. With collectible luxury goods rapidly attracting a larger global audience, and more people viewing high-end collectibles as a meaningful investment, the demand is only set to increase,” Berger said in a statement. “It’s clear that Paddle8 is positioned to take a large share of the market as it’s both mobile and easily accessible—perfectly aligned with the behavior and demands of today’s buyer. I see a tremendous opportunity to build on Paddle8’s current success, and am excited to be aligned with a company that encourages even more people to enter the world of collecting.”