A tech start-up wants to catalogue every work of art available on the market with a digital database that logs ownership. Verisart was co-founded by Robert Norton, previously chief executive officer of two online art-commerce sites, Saatchi Online and Sedition.

The site could clear up thorny provenance issues, help artists keep track of their own work, and provide an overview of the marketplace along with a window on where artwork is held, and by whom. Down the line, Norton thinks Verisart would become a platform for buying and selling.

“We think long-term monetization will come through building a verified database of inventory,” he says. “We think that that will enable transactions through Verisart.”