# Carter Cleveland

> Carter Cleveland is the New York founder of Artsy, the online art marketplace he began as a Princeton computer science student in 2009. His original idea was technical - organize art and recommend it through the Art Genome Project - but his durable contribution was institutional: persuading galleries, auction houses, fairs, and collectors to meet on a shared digital platform without treating those partners as obstacles to be disrupted.

- **Role:** Founder and Vice Chair at Artsy
- **Organizations:** Artsy, Princeton University, Give Real, NYC Startup Digest
- **Education:** B.S.E. in Computer Science, Princeton University
- **Known for:** Founded Artsy as a Princeton student and helped grow it into a global online art marketplace., Created the original vision for the Art Genome Project, a classification and recommendation system for artworks., Persuaded major galleries including Gagosian and Pace to join Artsy's partnership model.

## Career timeline

- **2008-2009** — Developed the idea first called Exhibytes while a Princeton student; it placed second and won the audience favorite award at the university's business-plan competition.
- **2009** — Graduated from Princeton and began working full time on the company that became Artsy.
- **2010** — Artsy competed at TechCrunch Disrupt and received the Yahoo! Rookie Award.
- **2012** — Artsy launched publicly with the Art Genome Project as its recommendation and classification system.
- **2014** — Forbes selected Cleveland as the featured Art & Style member of its 30 Under 30 list.
- **2017** — Artsy announced a $50 million Series D, bringing reported total funding to more than $100 million.
- **2019** — Cleveland moved from chief executive to executive chairman when Mike Steib became CEO.
- **2024** — Cleveland publicly welcomed Jeffrey Yin as Artsy's next CEO after Yin's five years as CFO and general counsel.
- **2026** — Artsy announced that it and Artnet would operate under shared leadership while keeping their platforms distinct; Artsy's public company profile continues to identify Cleveland as founder.

## Achievements

- Founded Artsy as a Princeton student and helped grow it into a global online art marketplace.
- Created the original vision for the Art Genome Project, a classification and recommendation system for artworks.
- Persuaded major galleries including Gagosian and Pace to join Artsy's partnership model.
- Raised more than $100 million in reported funding by 2017, including a $50 million Series D.
- Named the featured Art & Style selection on Forbes's 2014 30 Under 30 list.
- Transitioned from CEO to executive chairman in 2019 as Artsy entered a later stage of leadership.

## Latest updates

- **2024-06** — Cleveland announced Jeffrey Yin's appointment as Artsy CEO and described the secondary art market as the company's next major opportunity.
- **2026-04** — Artsy, the company Cleveland founded, announced a shared leadership structure with Artnet while the two platforms remain distinct.

## Links

- Website: https://www.artsy.net
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cartercleveland
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/carterac
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1oRaxfOTM
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carter.cleveland

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/carter-cleveland
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27