Convelio Announces New Investment and Partnership with Phillips
The art world moves carefully. Its operations are finally catching up. Convelio just closed a Series C and landed Phillips as a global logistics partner. Here's what that means for the industry.
Two milestones, one priority
Fine art operations have always demanded precision. The infrastructure supporting them has not always kept up.
Today, Convelio is announcing two milestones that change that. Convelio has secured a Series C minority investment from a prominent French family office with deep roots in the global art market, alongside continued backing from Forestay, Mundi Ventures, and Acton Capital.
At the same time, Phillips has named Convelio its preferred global logistics partner, with the partnership already live across London, New York - and Hong Kong in the horizon.
The two announcements are connected. The investment funds the infrastructure. The Phillips partnership is what that infrastructure makes possible.
The problem worth solving
The art market moves carefully. Operationally, it has been slower to evolve.
Provenance records managed in spreadsheets. Customs paperwork that delays transfers by weeks. A buyer wins a lot at auction, and seven days later they are still waiting for a shipping quote. A £10,000 artwork comes with a £6,000 shipping cost. These are not exceptions. They are standard practice.
Every year, less than 4% of the world's $1.7 trillion in privately held art is traded. Operational friction is a major reason why. When inventory is scattered across inboxes and PDFs, and coordination happens over email, the administrative burden falls on the people who should be focused on clients and collections.
Convelio was founded in 2017 to simplify and modernize art operations, combining specialist fine art handlers with proprietary technology to make shipping, storage, and inventory management work better for the people running them.
In 2025, Convelio shipped $1.84 billion in fine art across 92 countries, up from $265 million in 2022 - a 600% increase during a period when the broader market contracted by more than 20%.
Today, 3,000 art businesses globally rely on Convelio for end-to-end shipping, AI-powered inventory management, and specialist storage in London and Paris.
What this investment makes possible
The Series C accelerates two sides of the same strategy: software and infrastructure.
On the technology side, Convelio is extending AI-powered automation across quoting, workflow coordination, and operational visibility. In 2025, that automation saved clients an estimated 348 days of manual work, reducing administrative load and freeing up operations teams for higher-value work.
On the infrastructure side, Convelio is expanding its storage network. The London and Paris facilities reached above breakeven within their first year of operation. A flagship New York warehouse is planned for September 2026, the center of the U.S. art market, which accounted for 44% of global art market sales in 2025, with three additional facilities targeted by 2029.
The new investor brings more than capital: long-standing relationships across the art ecosystem and a long-term perspective aligned with how this market operates.
"We are delighted to welcome a family with deep ties to the art market and a very long-term investment horizon. This investment will allow us to double down on our strategy globally, notably in New York, where we plan to open a fine art storage facility in 2026." - Edouard Gouin, Co-Founder and CEO, Convelio
Register your interest for storage in London, Paris, or New York.
Strategic partnership with Phillips
Phillips manages around $1 billion in fine art sales annually across London, New York, and Hong Kong. Post-sale operations, the process of storing, coordinating, and shipping works after the hammer falls, is where complexity accumulates.
Until recently, getting a shipping quote to a buyer after a sale took up to seven days: works moved to third-party storage, inventory compiled manually, quotes sourced across multiple providers. For a house operating at that scale, that gap between the sale and the service was a persistent problem.
With Convelio as its preferred global logistics partner, that process changes fundamentally.
Powered by Convelio's Inventory Management Software and AI-driven workflows, quotes on works under £250,000 go out instantly in 90% of cases. In some instances, buyers were receiving shipping quotes before Convelio had even arrived to collect the works.
The partnership is already live in London and New York, with Hong Kong to follow.
"For a long time, we have been looking for ways to make our operations teams more efficient while meaningfully improving the client experience. Convelio's technology gives us a powerful way to do both, combining stronger operational control with high service quality." - Paul de Bono, COO of Phillips London
With this partnership, Convelio now provides tech-driven logistics services to all three of the world's largest fine art auction houses.
Convelio's Inventory Management Software is free to use independently of storage. Try it now.
What comes next
The art world has always held high standards for how works are handled physically. The operational layer is now catching up, and becoming a source of competitive advantage.
Convelio is building the infrastructure behind that shift: software that removes friction, and facilities that give control over how works move and are stored globally.
New York storage opens in September 2026. Three further facilities are planned by 2029. The Phillips partnership expands to New York and Hong Kong. And the technology that powers all of it keeps getting better.
For the art businesses running these operations every day, that means less time chasing updates and more time doing the work that matters.
Contact Us: Have storage needs or project questions? Our team is here to help. Contact us at order@convelio.com.