Otis

Overview

Otis makes investing in culturally significant collectibles, sneakers, and art easy and accessible. Each cultural asset on the platform has been securitized with the SEC and broken into shares. Members can buy and sell shares 24/7 and trades are matched daily. New cultural assets are launched on the app weekly. Their team uses a mix of category expertise and rigorous quantitative analysis to bring members high-quality cultural assets with a strong investment case.

Why Invest

• Otis makes high-priced cultural assets accessible to investors of all levels
• Otis sources, analyzes, securitizes, maintains, and stores the asset
• Otis's trading platform is available 24/7 and matches trades daily

How you make money

There are three primary ways in which you may have liquidity:

1. Secondary Trading: Trading works similar to the stock market where anyone can buy and sell shares of cultural assets. Otis opens assets for trading approximately 3-4 weeks after they fill in pre-sale. There’s no lock-up period for investors who purchase shares in the pre-sale. You can place a bid (buy order) or ask (sell order) 24/7. Each day at 2PM ET, prices are set based on where the most shares would clear, and overlapped bids and asks are removed from the order book. The orders are then matched and cleared at 9PM ET the same day.
2. Asset Sale: Otis intends to hold assets for the long term, and allow investors to determine when to buy and sell shares through their trading platform. They will consider legitimate offers on a case-by-case basis. If an offer is accepted, they will notify shareholders and the net proceeds of any sale will be distributed pro-rata to you.
3. Cash Flows: If Otis find the right opportunity to generate revenue from the asset (e.g. loaning the work for display), any cash flows will be distributed pro-rata to you.

How Otis makes money

Depending on the asset, Otis will charge a 0-10% sourcing fee, which enables their team to comprehensively analyze, source, and diligence each of their investments. Typically that charge is approximately 5%, which includes their sourcing fee and helps cover insurance, shipping and storage costs. In addition, their broker dealer charges a 1% fee on invested capital. Otis aims to acquire assets at a discount, so that the total offering value inclusive of fees remains at or around fair market value. Upon liquidation of any assets, Otis is entitled to 10% of any profits, and the remainder will be distributed pro-rata to the shareholders. It is possible that they would choose to waive payment of this amount at the time of sale.

Is it Safe?

Audited financials are published annually, and their independent auditor verifies asset possession. In addition, shares are ledgered with an SEC-registered transfer agent. All assets are insured by Aspen American Insurance Company during both transport and storage. Each asset is stored in a secure, climate-controlled facility. Many of their assets are stored at UOVO Fine Art in Long Island City, NY. Most trading cards and some sports memorabilia are stored at PWCC in Tigard, OR. Occasionally, Otis will host events where you can view some of the assets at our dedicated gallery space in New York, NY at 47 East 3rd Street.

Each asset or group of assets is owned by an individual series of their subsidiaries, Otis Gallery LLC and Otis Collection LLC. When you invest, you become an interest holder (shareholder) in a specific series (sub-company) that owns an asset or group of assets. Each series (asset) has a separate EIN, bank account and escrow account. Otis Wealth, Inc. is the asset manager for every series of Otis Collection LLC and Otis Gallery LLC, and has full discretion. Investing in hard assets will always have volatility risk, but Otis goes to great measures to ensure you can use their platform with confidence.