Public.com acquires Otis
Public.com announces the acquisition of Otis, a pioneer in fractional investing in NFTs, art, and collectibles.
With Otis joining Public, the Public platform will soon be a place where people can invest in — and build a modern portfolio with — any fractional asset. That means NFTs, art, collectibles, real estate, crypto, funds, stocks, and more — all in one place.
In 2019, Public pioneered real-time fractional investing in stocks. In 2021, Public added crypto investing with more than 25 cryptos on the app and counting.
Otis launched in 2019 to make it possible to own and invest in cultural assets. Otis has not only been the first to fractionalize blue-chip NFTs, they’ve also empowered thousands of investors to buy slices of assets like a Banksy painting, a pair of iconic sneakers worn by Michael Jordan, and trading cards of athletes like LeBron James and Serena Williams.
Investing in NFTs, art, and collectibles is a key aspect of the portfolio diversification strategy for many affluent investors. While alternative investing may seem niche, these opportunities can come with strong return profiles.
Historically, the opportunities to diversify with alternative investments have been limited to a small pool of investors. They are often locked behind exclusive art galleries and connections to other collectors, in addition to commanding price tags that are out of reach for the average investor.
Turning these physical assets into fractional investable securities has been the great unlock of the past few years, and it has, in turn, created a whole new asset class for people to consider.
Public notes that fractional investing in alternative assets is still very young; it is estimated that less than a million people have ever signed up for any of the available fractional alternative investing platforms in the market to date. The number of actual active investors is even smaller.