Today we are excited to share with you that we are leading a $38 million investment in Minted, an online crowdsourcing marketplace that connects consumers with the world’s best independent fine artists and designers.

Minted was originally launched in 2008 as an online marketplace for high-end, custom holiday cards and wedding invitations with a unique crowd-sourced contest model. It then moved into curated wall art. In 2013, the company successfully transitioned to a multi-channel strategy by selling its most popular wall art both online and in physical stores via its partnership with West Elm — reaching more than 40 million households in the U.S. The Minted marketplace and platform has since grown to include cards and wall art from more than 6,000 fine artists, photographers and designers from over 40 countries and supports more than 1,000 designer storefronts.

This week, the company further expands into the interior decorating sector with its launch of textile fabrics with designs from 300 artists.

With each strategic move, Minted has reinforced its vision to help independent artists flourish. That’s why we believe that Minted is poised to join such notable online marketplace leaders as Lending Club, Airbnb, and Houzz. One look at the valuations of these other leading marketplace brands demonstrates that a bullish take on online marketplaces is hardly revolutionary. But at Norwest we believe that only truly customer-obsessed marketplaces will be able to reach this potential, and that most market segments will be dominated by a single marketplace. We are backing Minted in the design space.

That’s why we believe that Minted is poised to join such notable online marketplace leaders as Lending Club, Airbnb, and Houzz.

It takes a lot to build a winning marketplace – building an enduring community, curating high quality product offerings, delivering a compelling consumer experience and creating outsized value for suppliers. Minted has had the vision, persistence and sustained focus to excel at all of these elements from the start. We are excited to be partnering with Mariam and team as they continue to scale the premier marketplace for designers and consumers everywhere.