WorthPoint has sold the GoAntiques marketplace to Gemr, a social marketplace for collectors. Gemr will integrate the GoAntiques community of 200,000-plus users who list over 350,000 items for sale into the Gemr platform.
Gemr CEO Terry Anderton said the acquisition supports the company’s growth strategy and reinforces its mission to identify and connect consumers with items enhanced in value by their story. “We look forward to welcoming the GoAntiques community and developing a creative, authentic and one-of-a-kind experience for everyone.”
Initially GoAntiques will continue to function as a standalone site. Complete integration of GoAntiques into Gemr’s platform is expected to be complete by mid-summer.
WorthPoint founder Will Seippel, who acquired GoAntiques in 2008, said the sale included only the dealer mall. Worthpoint kept everything that had to do with data information, including pricing data and Priceminer.
Seippel said there needs to be a separation between a company providing tools to a marketplace for the identification and valuing of antiques and the marketplace itself. “Thus, we are building a “Bloomberg” of research of data for the Nasdaq/NYSE etc… You do not see Bloomberg creating a marketplace,” he said.
“We are confident that Gemr will provide a transformative experience for GoAntiques users moving forward,” he said, and WorthPoint users should look forward to new tools including an Android app.
