Magnus App - Shazam for Art

What Magnus App - Shazam for Art does

Magnus, Inc. is a US-based, privately held software company founded in 2013 by Magnus Resch and currently operating out of Miami Beach (originally founded in New York). Its sole commercial product is a free iOS application positioned as "Shazam for Art," which allows users to photograph an artwork and receive instant identification (artist, title, dimensions, biography) together with pricing drawn from both auction houses and galleries. The core technology stack combines proprietary AI image recognition, which generates a digital fingerprint of each photographed work and matches it against a proprietary database of millions of artworks, with a crowdsourced pricing layer validated by automated cross-checks and manual review. Adjacent feature modules include an AI-driven discovery/recommendation engine, a personal AI art advisor, an interactive gallery and museum map, a digital collection for saved works, and a View-in-Room rendering tool. The platform also supports supply-side contributors: galleries can submit pricing, artists can submit artwork documentation (PDFs with images, titles, mediums, sizes, edition sizes, prices), and a future partner program is planned that would let galleries manage their own listings. The business model is freemium on the consumer side (the app is free with no paid tiers, ads, or transaction fees disclosed), and no revenue line is currently active; the company is best understood as a pre-revenue, data-asset-driven platform whose monetization is deferred to a future B2B gallery partner program. Capital structure is thin: the only disclosed funding event is an undisclosed strategic investment from Leonardo DiCaprio announced in February 2018, with no subsequent institutional round visible in the input. The product was taken offline during the COVID-19 shutdown of galleries and museums and was relaunched in 2025 with materially upgraded AI capability and a broader feature set.

Name

Magnus App - Shazam for Art

Legal name

Magnus, Inc.

Website

https://magnus.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Magnus is a free iOS app that identifies artworks from a photo and shows historic and recent auction and gallery prices, serving individual art collectors and contributors from galleries, artists, and auction houses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Identification Software

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAJADAA

Art Museums

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Museums, Galleries & Cultural Institutions

SECONDARYMPAHACAN

Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Media Technology & Services (Post-Production, VFX, Animation, Streaming Infrastructure)/Animation & Motion Graphics (2D/3D)

Keywords

• Art identification app
• Image recognition software
• Art price database
• Artwork discovery tool
• Art market platform

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Free App (Current): The app is currently offered completely free to all users. No monetization model is explicitly stated in current sources, though a future partner program is mentioned where galleries will be able to update and manage their own prices directly.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Magnus App is an AI-powered mobile application, often called 'Shazam for Art,' that identifies artworks from photographs and provides users with detailed information including artist biographies, artwork descriptions, provenance, and pricing data drawn from auction houses and galleries. Users can discover artists, build personal collections, track artworks, and access a comprehensive art market database.

Product overview

Magnus is a unified mobile platform positioned as 'Shazam for Art,' built around a single core iOS application that combines AI-powered image recognition with an extensive art price database. The core Magnus App enables users to photograph artworks and instantly retrieve artist identification, pricing information (from both auctions and galleries), and location-based discovery of nearby galleries and museums. The platform integrates AI Discovery for personalized recommendations, an AI Art Advisor for guidance, a Digital Collection for saving favorites, and a View in Room feature for visualizing artworks at scale. The product ecosystem centers on crowdsourced data validated by manual review, with a partner program planned for galleries to manage their own pricing directly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Magnus App A free iOS mobile application that uses AI to identify artworks from photos and provides users with detailed artist information, pricing data from auctions and galleries, provenance details, and tools to manage personal art collections. Designed for art enthusiasts, collectors, and curious individuals who encounter artworks in museums, galleries, or public spaces.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Smartify: Smartify is a direct competitor offering a mobile app that uses image recognition to identify artworks and provide contextual information. It shares Magnus's core 'scan to identify' value proposition and similar target user (museum and gallery visitors).
• Artsy: Artsy is the leading online art marketplace and discovery platform, aggregating listings from galleries and auction houses globally. It overlaps with Magnus on art discovery and gallery visibility, with a much broader inventory and marketplace functionality.
• Artnet: Artnet is a long-established art market data and auction platform with comprehensive price databases, auction results, and gallery intelligence. It directly competes with Magnus's price database and gallery directory features.
• Artprice.com: Artprice by Artmarket is a global art price database covering auction results and market indices. It is a direct competitor in the art price data category that Magnus aggregates, with a longer history and institutional client base.
• MutualArt: MutualArt provides art market data, auction prices, and artist information for collectors, dealers, and advisors. It competes directly with Magnus's pricing and artist information features.
• 1stDibs: 1stDibs is a luxury online marketplace that includes fine art alongside furniture and jewelry. It overlaps with Magnus on gallery visibility, price transparency, and collector audience targeting in the high-end art segment.
• Saatchi Art: Saatchi Art is a leading online art gallery offering original works for sale, with curation, artist profiles, and price discovery. It overlaps with Magnus's price transparency and discovery use cases for collectors.

Broad incumbents

• Google Arts & Culture: Google Arts & Culture is a large-scale art discovery and educational platform with high-resolution image access, museum partnerships, and AI-driven identification features. It competes broadly with Magnus on art identification and discovery but at vastly greater scale and free of charge.

Emerging players

• Masterworks: Masterworks is an emerging fintech platform that fractionalizes and sells shares in blue-chip artworks, relying on art market data and price transparency. It is adjacent to Magnus in monetizing art-market information for financial use cases.

Others

• Artlogic: Artlogic provides website, CRM, and inventory tools for galleries. It serves the same gallery-side customers Magnus targets through its planned partner program, and represents an indirect ecosystem peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/magnusapp
• Instagraminstagram.com/magnusapp
• Xx.com/magnusapp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Magnus App - Shazam for Art