Persius: A Platform for your Talent

It would be a dream come true for upcoming artists to have a space and platform to exhibit their work and talents with the potential of being recognized. Artists that have just ventured into selling their artwork find it hard to find buyers, they face struggles that talent shouldn’t be restricted with. Persius is this dream come true, it is a space that provides equal and fair opportunity to artists. In conversation with the Co-founder Persius, Bibin Mathew, we learn more about this platform and what it has to offer.

Give a brief info about your startup?

Persius is an AI based platform to provide equal and fair opportunity to all artists, upcoming or established. By evaluating artists’ work using our AI based algorithms, we aim to provide a transparent and fair system to recognize and discover creative talent.

Persius matches artists with art collectors/scouts, provides visibility to artists with online competitions and also helps users improve & learn new skills with interactive online courses.

Other than Art, Persius hosts talent categories like dance, music, photography and more. We have Artists from 40+ countries & visitors from 100+ countries already and growing at a fast pace.

Persius is recognised by Startup Estonia, Startup India , Kerala Startup Mission and also is a member of Italy based European Startup association. We are registered with offices in Bangalore, India and Tallinn, Estonia.

What is the story behind Persius? What motivated you to begin such a platform?

Around 10 years back, one of my colleagues, an Artist, who is now also part of our team, wanted to sell her artwork. Like most struggling Artists , she reached out to some Art galleries, sent emails with her best work and accomplishments, created a website/pages for herself. A handful of people showed interest however, not a single person was willing to buy any of her work. By this time, she had read many books on Art and how the industry functions but when it came to the practicality of it, she was still completely unsure. Giving up on working on it alone, she finally reached out to some agents and appraisers, paid huge commissions to help her connect to Art lovers and buyers. The hard work finally paid off. Today, she is an accomplished Artist with her artwork selling for Rs. 1 Lakh on an average.

This is not an unusual story, most new artists go through a similar journey even with the presence of many available online platforms to showcase one’s artwork. It is much easier for an established artist to sell his/her work online or offline while a new artist continues to struggle. Should it be this hard & time consuming? An artist who has no prior contacts of Galleries or Collectors should have to go through such an exhaustive list of things before getting noticed?  Your job as an Artist should be to only create beautiful work & not worry about how to promote yourself.

Did you know that even in today’s digital times, Female Artists have only 34% representation in the Art industry as opposed to Male Artists. For upcoming artists, the figure is only 19%.

These are the questions we asked ourselves when we came up with the idea. We thought with our combined knowledge, we can build something which not only allows artists and buyers/scouts to get connected easily but also enables them to control their future by removing subjectivity and complexity in the art valuation process. So while artists focus on their creativity, we take care of everything else.

We initially started with beta testing with our friends and family and witnessed a huge interest from all types of users and hence decided to foray into this field.

How does one become a part of Persius? What are the benefits of being a member?

Anyone can join Persius.in as an Artist or an Art enthusiast.

To register as Scouts and Tutors, a user’s profile and accreditations have to be approved by our team. Which enables them to hire artists or start online courses for other users.

Joining Persius is Free of cost. We also promote some exemplary work of artists as sponsored posts on our social media channels and of course on our website. As a Persius user, you can:

• showcase your work,
• receive realistic valuations of artwork,
• take part in or run various types of competitions,
• connect with Art scholars, buyers, Scouts, Galleries &
• last but not the least, run your own Online Courses for a global audience. 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

I have worked with several startups in India as a Project /Program Manager before starting my own venture . I have more than 10 years of experience in the IT Industry, post MBA from Christ University Bangalore. I am from Kottayam, Kerala and have worked and studied in  Bangalore prior to this.

How is Persius different from other similar platforms? What makes you unique?

While there are many online marketplaces today, Persius helps Artists monetize in different ways and not just by selling their artwork. A user can earn through online courses or by running competitions or even by getting hired by various institutions for creative roles/jobs.

We work with Art Galleries and other institutions who are always looking for new talent across various categories .

Competitions on Persius:

Content on Persius:

How does Persius operate? How do you generate revenue from your platform?

Persius is a free platform for joining and showcasing one’s skills. We charge only a fee if the artist earns through the platform.

While we have to earn revenues in order to continue to provide this platform for all, we also work with various NGOs to help kids and women to learn new skills / talents for free. We believe creativity can make a difference in the world as it has the power to nurture young minds and help them grow.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

That we are another social media platform as it’s open for anyone to join.

The reality is that even though it’s open for all e.g. to artists and others who want to learn new skills, however, Persius is not a platform intended for socializing but to help people get discovered or scouted by a specific target audience

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

We are a team of three Founders

Jyotsna has extensive experience in Enterprise sales, Business Development, International business for B2b & B2C. Having worked in various MNCs & startups, Jyotsna possesses a strong business acumen and is an art enthusiast herself.

Bibin has extensive experience in IT Project / Program Management

• 

• 

• 

Sreejith comes with extensive technical experience specialising in latest technologies like AI, Blockchain & more. All 3 of us had worked together at some point in the industry and had a similar vision of bringing a State-of-the-art solution to the market.

Know a great startup story or want to share your own? Write to us at keralainsider.com@gmail.com and we will get back to you. For more updates follow Kerala Insider on Facebook