Key Takeaways
- • Alt, founded by Leore Avidar and backed by investors including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Seven Seven Six, First Round Capital, and Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, is building infrastructure to democratize sports card investing by enabling fractional ownership and blockchain-based trading.
- • The platform uses NFT technology to tokenize fractional shares of physical sports cards, reducing transaction friction such as shipping costs and authentication delays while maintaining custody of underlying assets in secure vaults.
- • Sports card market reached all-time highs in 2020 and early 2021 at public auction, with high-profile sales including a Gary Vaynerchuk Topps Chrome superfractor at $55,000, signaling strong collector and investor demand for alternative collectibles.
- • Alt has established a dedicated fund (Alt Fund) to invest directly in premium cards, positioning itself as both infrastructure provider and active participant in the sports card asset class, similar to how Coinbase operates in cryptocurrency.
- • The convergence of NFT technology, fractional trading platforms, and renewed collector interest is transforming sports cards from niche hobby into a structured, liquid alternative asset class with transparent valuation and custody mechanisms.
Summary
Alt is constructing market infrastructure for sports card investing by applying lessons from traditional asset classes—equities, fixed income, and cryptocurrency—to the collectibles market. Founded by Leore Avidar, a former Wall Street trader with experience at Amazon Web Services and fintech company Lob, the platform aims to create transparent pricing, fractional ownership, and streamlined trading mechanisms for physical sports cards. The company has secured backing from prominent venture investors including Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six fund, First Round Capital, Addition, SV Angel, Box Group, and Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, signaling institutional confidence in the business model.
The platform's core innovation centers on blockchain-based tokenization of fractional card ownership. Rather than requiring investors to purchase entire cards—which can cost thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars—Alt enables fractional investment through digital deeds that represent partial ownership rights. These NFT-based deeds provide holders the ability to redeem physical cards while dramatically reducing friction costs associated with traditional card transactions, including shipping, insurance, and authentication delays. Avidar describes the offering as creating a stock-market-equivalent experience: "Basically all it is a platform where you can invest in sports cards, as easily as investing in any stocks."
The timing of Alt's entry into the market coincides with sustained investor interest in sports card collectibles. Public auction sales reached all-time highs during 2020 and early 2021, with notable transactions including a Gary Vaynerchuk Topps Chrome superfractor selling for $55,000. This revival reflects broader cultural phenomena where collectibles—particularly those tied to sports, celebrity, and nostalgia—have emerged as alternative stores of value and sources of generational connection. Alt has complemented its infrastructure play by launching the Alt Fund, a dedicated investment vehicle for acquiring premium cards, positioning the company alongside competitors like StarStock in the emerging sports card fintech space.
The infrastructure Avidar is building mirrors successful models in adjacent markets: Coinbase for cryptocurrency and established clearinghouses for traditional securities. By standardizing valuation, custody, and trading mechanisms, Alt addresses historical pain points in sports card investing—including authentication disputes, illiquid secondary markets, and high transaction costs. As alternative and collectibles markets mature, institutional investors increasingly require the same market structure, regulatory clarity, and operational efficiency available in public equities and fixed income markets. Alt's approach leverages NFT technology not as speculative vehicle but as operational tool to reduce friction and increase accessibility for a broad investor base.
The platform's core innovation centers on blockchain-based tokenization of fractional card ownership. Rather than requiring investors to purchase entire cards—which can cost thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars—Alt enables fractional investment through digital deeds that represent partial ownership rights. These NFT-based deeds provide holders the ability to redeem physical cards while dramatically reducing friction costs associated with traditional card transactions, including shipping, insurance, and authentication delays. Avidar describes the offering as creating a stock-market-equivalent experience: "Basically all it is a platform where you can invest in sports cards, as easily as investing in any stocks."
The timing of Alt's entry into the market coincides with sustained investor interest in sports card collectibles. Public auction sales reached all-time highs during 2020 and early 2021, with notable transactions including a Gary Vaynerchuk Topps Chrome superfractor selling for $55,000. This revival reflects broader cultural phenomena where collectibles—particularly those tied to sports, celebrity, and nostalgia—have emerged as alternative stores of value and sources of generational connection. Alt has complemented its infrastructure play by launching the Alt Fund, a dedicated investment vehicle for acquiring premium cards, positioning the company alongside competitors like StarStock in the emerging sports card fintech space.
The infrastructure Avidar is building mirrors successful models in adjacent markets: Coinbase for cryptocurrency and established clearinghouses for traditional securities. By standardizing valuation, custody, and trading mechanisms, Alt addresses historical pain points in sports card investing—including authentication disputes, illiquid secondary markets, and high transaction costs. As alternative and collectibles markets mature, institutional investors increasingly require the same market structure, regulatory clarity, and operational efficiency available in public equities and fixed income markets. Alt's approach leverages NFT technology not as speculative vehicle but as operational tool to reduce friction and increase accessibility for a broad investor base.
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