Initially created as a broad platform for presenting exhibitions of contemporary art online,[6] Paddle8 refined its business model to focus solely on auctions.
[7] Since its founding, Paddle8 partnered with over 300 non-profit organizations worldwide, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Guggenheim, to present their benefit auctions online, dramatically expanding their audience of supporters by tapping into Paddle8's community of 500,000 collectors.
[9] In December 2017 P8H Inc, the New York legal entity that owns and operates Paddle8, had been taken over by a syndicate of Swiss investors [10] that installed Izabela Depczyk as the interim CEO and the change manager at Paddle8 with the mandate to introduce and execute on the new business strategy for Paddle8.
Paddle8 submitted a petition with various creditors listed, including Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey, to which they owe just over $73,000, and the Susan und Michael Hort´s Rema Hort Mann Foundation.
[21][22] In June 2013, Paddle8 announced $6 million in funding from new investors, including artist Damien Hirst, Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg, Russian mogul Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Matthew Mellon, and Jay Jopling, owner of White Cube.
New investors represented an array of notable figures from the worlds of technology, art and luxury, including newest Paddle8 board member David Zwirner, one of the most influential international art dealers; German collector and investor Rolf Sachs; Eric Fellner, co-chairman of Working Title Films; and Edgar Berger, Chairman and CEO International of Sony Music Entertainment.
The round also saw participation from existing investors including Mousse Partners, Damien Hirst, Jay Jopling of White Cube Gallery; and Stavros Niarchos, a collector and entrepreneur.