• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
    • Advertise with SC Daily
    • Write for Sports Collectors Daily
    • Write About Your Sports Collection
    • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?
  • Hot on eBay
    • Most Watched Graded Rookies
    • Most Watched PSA 10 Cards
    • Most Watched BGS, BVG Cards
    • Most Watched SGC Cards
    • Most Watched Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2023 Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2022 Baseball Rookie Cards
      • Bowman Chrome Cards
      • Wander Franco Cards
      • Mike Trout Cards
      • Fernando Tatis Jr. Cards
      • Babe Ruth Cards
      • Hank Aaron Cards
      • Jackie Robinson Cards:
      • Mickey Mantle Cards
      • Willie Mays Cards
      • Vintage Baseball Card Sets
      • T206 Cards
    • Most Watched Basketball
      • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2022-23 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2021-22 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2020-21 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2019-20 NBA Rookie Cards
        • Zion Williamson Rookie Cards
        • Ja Morant Rookie Cards
      • Michael Jordan Cards
      • Kobe Bryant Cards
      • LeBron James Rookie Cards
      • Giannis Antetokounmpo Rookie Cards
      • Luka Doncic Rookie Cards
      • Prizm Basketball Cards
      • Panini National Treasures
    • Most Watched Football Cards
      • Most Watched NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2022 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Brock Purdy Rookie Cards
      • 2021 NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2020 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Joe Burrow Rookie Cards
        • Justin Herbert Rookie Cards
        • Jalen Hurts Rookie Cards
      • Josh Allen Rookie Cards
      • Patrick Mahomes Rookie Cards
      • Tom Brady Cards
    • Most Watched Hockey Cards
      • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2020-21 Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2019-20 Rookie Cards
      • Connor McDavid Cards
      • Wayne Gretzky Cards
      • Bobby Orr Cards
    • Most Watched Soccer Cards
    • Most Watched UFC Cards
    • Most Watched Golf Cards
    • Most Watched 1 of 1 Cards
    • Most Watched Racing Cards
    • Top Sports Card Dealers on eBay
    • Most Watched Memorabilia
      • Vintage Sports Memorabilia
    • Vintage Sports Tickets, Stubs
    • Most Watched Autographs
  • Ending Soon on Ebay
    • Baseball Cards
    • Basketball Cards
    • Football Cards
    • Hockey Cards
    • Soccer Cards
    • Golf Cards
    • UFC Cards
  • Top - Ad

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports collecting news - Sports cards and sports memorabilia industry news.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 

  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
      • Shop Talk
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Affordable Vintage Cards, Collectibles
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • Around The Hobby
    • Editor’s Blog
    • David Cycleback’s Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Popular Stories
  • Sell Your Cards
You are here: Home / Business/Industry News / Sports Memorabilia Business News / Otis Offers Another Answer In Fractional Shares Market

Otis Offers Another Answer In Fractional Shares Market

February 2, 2021 By Bob D'Angelo

Michael Karnjanaprakorn believes he has the answer when it comes to fractional investing. Considering his favorite player growing up in Newport News, Virginia, was hometown star Allen Iverson, that’s an appropriate connection.

Just like Iverson, Karnjanaprakorn, 38, believes he has the answer when it comes to the arena of fractional investing. And he’s not talking about practice, either — Karnjanaprakorn has put on his game face and is playing to win.

Otis, the company Karnjanaprakorn founded in November 2018, bills itself as “the stock market for culture.” Like other sites that sell “passion assets,” such as Rally and Collectable, collectors select an Otis asset and buy fractional shares that reflect indirect ownership.

Upcoming offerings include the pair of Air Jordan sneakers Jordan used when he shattered a backboard during a 1985 game in Trieste, Italy. Shares will be offered beginning Feb. 17.

Otis takes a deep dive into different types of collectibles, including sports cards, memorabilia, sneakers, video games, Pokémon cards and comic books. Otis also uses the auction platform method to match orders, using the best price at which the greatest buy/sell orders can be traded.

“Our overall breadth is quite a bit wider than many of the other players in the space as we’ve also brought quite a few assets to market across other ‘cultural categories,’” Karnjanaprakorn said. “The second major difference is our strong focus on trading. So, whereas other platforms really think of their secondary markets as a supporting feature, we believe that the ability to easily buy and sell with other users should be the center of the experience.”

Some of the recent items Otis has offered include three pairs of 1985 Nike Air Jordan 1 sneakers. On Dec. 1, investors were offered shares in a set of the 1986-87 Fleer basketball set, with each card graded PSA 10, including the Jordan rookie card. A PSA 10 2003 LeBron James Topps Chrome Refractor rookie was also offered, along with a gem mint 1981 Topps Joe Montana rookie card.

Upcoming offerings include the pair of Air Jordan sneakers Jordan used when he shattered a backboard during a 1985 game in Trieste, Italy; shares of that asset will be available beginning Feb. 17, which happens to be Jordan’s 58th birthday.

Other offerings will include a 2004 Panini Mega Cracks La Liga card of Lionel Messi, which carries a 9.5 grade from Beckett Grading Services; and a 2002 Panini Futebol Cristiano Ronaldo rookie card that also grades 9.5 by BGS.

“We believe in a diversified portfolio,” Karnjanaprakorn told The New York Times in July 2019.

That even includes a painting by British street artist Banksy, known for his pointed political statements. The art was acquired through a dealer, Karnjanaprakorn said.

“The piece has been tremendously popular on our trading platform to date — and it makes perfect sense why,” he said. “If you ask anyone to name a famous living artist, chances are Banksy will be one of the first one or two names that come to most people’s minds.”

Michael Karnjanaprakorn started Otis in November 2018 and had his first fractional offering eight months later.

Karnjanaprakorn launched Otis launched in July 2019, and its first offering was a painting by New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley, noted for painting Barack Obama’s presidential portrait. The Wiley artwork for Otis, “St. Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of Last Judgment,” was bought by Otis for $237,500. It was then offered on the fractional market and was fully funded by 600 investors in August 2019.

The company now has nearly 70,000 subscribers, Karnjanaprakorn said.

Hitting the ground running is not unusual to Karnjanaprakorn. He was a track and cross-country runner and an honor student at Woodside High School in Newport News, so he is familiar with the view that success is more like a marathon, rather than a sprint. After graduating in 2000, Karnjanaprakorn enrolled at the University of Virginia and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2004.

In 2006, Karnjanaprakorn earned a master’s degree in advertising at Brandcenter, which is part of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. After stints at Behance and Hot Potato, he founded Skillshare in 2011. It was created, out of his living room, as an alternative offline education platform that taught practical skills to students. In 2012, Skillshare went online. Karnjanaprakorn told the Chicago Tribune in 2015 that he viewed Skillshare as the internet’s school.

Karnjanaprakorn then walked away from Skillshare to start Otis from scratch.

“If I look at the through-line of my career, it’s always been about democratizing access,” he said. “I was an early employee at Behance where we were democratizing access to careers. Skillshare democratized access to education, and now Otis is democratizing access to investing. I think that mission — combined with my personal passion for culture and collectibles — were the big catalysts for me wanting to found Otis.

“In terms of challenges, I’d say they’re twofold. First, building any company is hard. Compounded on that with Otis is we’re building a company in an industry that didn’t exist a few years ago, so there’s no playbook to follow. Still, if we’re able to execute on our vision of building the ‘NASDAQ for Culture,’ the opportunity is enormous.”

Karnjanaprakorn enjoys collecting sports items, particularly basketball and mixed martial arts cards. In addition to Iverson, he likes Zion Williamson, and the UFC stars he collects include Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, and “of course,” Conor McGregor.

Two items stand out in his collection: A 1996 Skybox E-X Credentials Allen Iverson PSA 9 (“still looking for the 10, only three exist”), and a 1992 Shaquille O’Neal Stadium Club Beam Team PSA 10 card.

“This is the card that I wanted as a kid,” Karnjanaprakorn said. “I finally got one.”

While Otis has a diverse portfolio for potential investors, the idea of plunking down cash for items you cannot physically own seems unusual. Karnjanaprakorn does not believe that is the case.

“There’s always a part of a market that’s inaccessible to someone,” he told Artsy in July 2019. “If you want to buy a print and put it in your home, you can definitely do that. But if you want to also own a piece of a (Jean-Michel) Basquiat painting — you can do that, as well. There’s the utility of privately being able to enjoy the artwork in your house, but there’s also the public utility of feeling like you’re a co-owner.”

Besides, if you live in the New York area, you can visit Otis’ studio in the East Village, where items are displayed on a rotating basis.

So, how does the sports collectibles industry fit into the model of fractional investing?

“We’ve seen relatively strong demand across all of our categories thus far. That said, sports collectibles are definitely having a moment and the demand there of late, especially with cards, has been off the charts,” Karnjanaprakorn said. “Rather than coming up with strategies to make sure the assets we launch fill, the conversation with sports collectibles has flipped where we’re actually needing to cap the amount people can invest so that more investors have an opportunity to get in on the item.

“If history is any lesson though, any asset class — whether that’s tech stocks or crypto or sports cards — will have times of tremendous enthusiasm and relative lulls. That’s one of the reasons breadth is so important for our platform. We want people to have the opportunity to diversify across a number of different types of cultural assets.”

Otis’ future moves will continue to “go pretty deep” into cards, and probably will branch out beyond baseball, basketball, football and hockey. Game-worn collectibles are also an area the company is examining for the future.

Karnjanaprakorn believes “the stock market for culture” is the perfect answer for future investors.

“I think that phrase describes really what we’ve always had as the vision for the company,” he said. “We believe that cultural assets, particularly collectibles, are going to be the new asset class of this generation.”

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Facebook Messenger

Related Stories:

Rally Adds $15 Million in Funding; Aims for Wider Exposure Athletes Part of Investor Group as Dibbs Picks Up $13 Million Funding Round Alt Buys Majority Stake in Steph Curry Rookie Card Valued at $5.9 Million Soccer, LeBron Cards Among Early Favorites in Goldin Sale Lionel Messi’s Cleats from Pele Record-Breaking Goal Head to Charity Auction Dibbs Gets $2.8 Million in Seed Funding as Start Up Prepares to Open Notes: HOF Election; Topps News; CSG Update, More Christy Mathewson, Nolan Ryan Items Highlight Huggins And Scott Spring Auction

About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].

Filed Under: Sports Memorabilia Business News Tagged With: 1986-87 Fleer basketball set, fractional offerings, fractional ownership, fractional shares, LeBron James rookie cards, Lionel Messi, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Otis

Primary Sidebar

Our articles may contain affiliate links. When you click on links to merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 

  • Football
  • Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Hockey

High End Cards and Memorabilia

  • BBCE Authenticated Boxes, Packs opens in a new window
  • Graded pre-War Card Auctions
  • Graded Rookie Cards opens in a new window
  • Authenticated Photos opens in a new window
  • Graded Tickets & Stubs opens in a new window

Bargain Corner

  • Michael Jordan cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Kobe Bryant cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Mickey Mantle Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Graded T206 Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Pre-War Cards Under $100 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Baseball Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Football Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Basketball Cards $25 and less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Hockey Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Complete Sets $20 and Less opens in a new window
  • Baseball Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Football Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Hobby Boxes Under $30 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1986 Rookie Cards Under $1 opens in a new window

RSS Auction Report

  • Classic Auctions Current Auction Ends June 27, 2023
  • Heritage Auctions Sports Showcase Auction Ends June 24, 2023
  • Goldin’s June Elite Sports Auction Ends June 28, 2023

Footer

Categories

  • Around the Hobby
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Editor's Blog
  • Featured Articles
  • Hobby Shop Talk
  • National Sports Collectors Convention
  • Popular Stories
  • Rich Klein's Ramblings
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Uncategorized

Sponsor Links

  • Sports Card Forumopens in a new window
  • Buying Vintage Sports Cardsopens in a new window
  • Game Used Jerseysopens in a new window
  • Championship Rings For Saleopens in a new window
  • Vintage Basketball Cardsopens in a new window
  • NBA Signed Itemsopens in a new window
  • Autographed Baseballsopens in a new window
  • NASCAR Autographsopens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Baseball Cardsopens in a new window
  • Player Picturesopens in a new window
  • Vintage Football Cardsopens in a new window
  • Sports Collectors Storeopens in a new window

Pages

Ending on eBay Soon
  • Baseball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Basketball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Football Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Hockey Card Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
  • Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay Ending Soon
Top 100 on Ebay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Baseball Rookie Cards on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Card Auctions
  • Top Authenticated Vintage Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
Most Watched on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Graded Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Tom Brady Card Auctions on eBay
  • 50 Hottest Hobby Boxes at Auction on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Golf Trading Cards on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Wrestling Trading Cards on eBay
  • 75 Most Watched Bowman Chrome Cards
  • Most Popular Bobbleheads on eBay
  • Most Watched 1/1 Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Basketball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Complete Baseball Card Sets at Auction on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Rookie Card Auctions
  • Most Watched Goudey Baseball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Hockey Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Racing Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Soccer Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Autographs on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Jerseys on eBay
  • Most Watched Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
  • Most Watched Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay
  • Hottest Panini National Treasures Cards on eBay
  • Hottest PSA 10 Cards for Sale on eBay
  • What’s Hot on eBay
Sports Memorabilia
  • Sports Card Bargain Bin
  • Sports Memorabilia Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
About Sports Collectors Daily
  • Advertise with SC Daily
  • Contact Us
  • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Sell Your Cards
  • What’s It Worth
  • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?

Copyright © 2023 SportsCollectorsDaily.com | Web Design by Wickam Groupopens in a new window