# Scott Lynn

> Scott Lynn is the founder and CEO of Masterworks, the New York fintech that files paintings by Basquiat, Banksy, Picasso and Warhol with the SEC and sells shares of them to retail investors. A serial internet entrepreneur who started his first company at 15 in Kansas City, he was already a top-100 U.S. art collector before he decided the art market itself needed a public offering.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Masterworks
- **Organizations:** Masterworks, V2 Ventures, Payability, Virtumundo, AdKnowledge, Treeloot.com, The Brooklyn Rail, International Foundation for Art Research, Lynn Foundation
- **From:** Kansas City, Missouri, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Dropped out in first year, College (unspecified)
- **Known for:** Built a top-100 U.S. art collection including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Lent works to MoMA, the Guggenheim, and other institutions, Grew Masterworks to 811,000+ members and $880M+ in artwork under management

## Career timeline

- **~1996** — Started first company at age 15 in Kansas City, MO
- **late 1990s** — Dropped out of college to start Virtumundo (later Treeloot.com)
- **early 2000s** — Founded AdKnowledge, later grew to ~$300M in revenue
- **~2005** — Began seriously collecting Abstract Expressionist art
- **2014** — Founded Payability, a digital lending platform
- **2017** — Founded Masterworks
- **2021** — Masterworks raises $110M Series A, hits unicorn status

## Achievements

- Built a top-100 U.S. art collection including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still
- Lent works to MoMA, the Guggenheim, and other institutions
- Grew Masterworks to 811,000+ members and $880M+ in artwork under management
- Founded, acquired, sold, or held control of over a dozen tech companies
- First platform to qualify individual paintings with the SEC as public offerings

## Latest updates

- **2023-11** — Appeared on CNBC discussing art investing
- **2023-12** — Profiled by CEO Today on pivot from gaming to ad tech to fractional art

## Links

- Website: https://masterworks.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-lynn-b0486227
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/masterworks
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h1e4Qa-KN4
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/masterworks/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/scott-lynn
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-08