Sharon Obuobi
I measure how culture is valued, with data people can trust.
I study the economics of art, luxury and collectibles. Founder and CEO of ALT/FNDATA. Former founding member of Modern & Contemporary African Art at Sotheby's. Apollo Magazine 40 Under 40. 1st Place, MIT Fintech Conference 2025. Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab. Techstars New York. Featured in CNN, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, Apollo and TechCrunch.
As featured in
- Education Queen's University Smith School of Business BCom · Post-graduate certification, Sotheby's Institute of Art, London
- Founder ALT/FNDATA CEO & Technology Lead · alternative asset data infrastructure
- Sotheby's Founding member, Modern & Contemporary African Art $4M sales in two years · consignments to $1.2M
- Research NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art Duke University Press · market analysis on the Sotheby's platform
- Recognition Apollo 40 Under 40 · MIT Fintech 1st Place 2025 Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab · Telegraph & NatWest Top 10 · Techstars NY
- Programs Techstars NY · Accenture FIL · AWS Impact Accelerator Innovate UK · Visible Hands · UK trade mission
Founder, ALT/FNDATA
From the auction floor to the data layer.
I'm Sharon Obuobi, a cultural economist and data scientist. I study how culture is priced: the art, watches, jewellery, cars and collectibles that trade far outside the public markets. As founder and CEO of ALT/FNDATA, I build the institutional-grade data infrastructure that makes those markets measurable.
My edge comes from having worked both sides of the market. At Sotheby's, I helped launch Modern & Contemporary African Art as a global category, contributing to $4 million in sales and a 54.5% lift in offer conversion. As Technical Co-founder and CEO of Oarbt 3D, I built cloud-native immersive commerce technology ahead of the industry, raising capital from Amazon, Innovate UK and Visible Hands, and representing UK innovation on a British government trade mission to the United States.
Today I lead ALT/FNDATA, modelling more than 10 million records across luxury and financial markets, and was selected for the Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab. My research has been published in NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art (Duke University Press), and my work featured in CNN, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, Apollo Magazine and TechCrunch.
A career built at the frontier of markets.
Auction houses, deep tech, and fintech, one through-line: understanding how markets put a price on culture.
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2023 to now
Founder, CEO & Technology Lead
ALT/FNDATABuilding the data layer for luxury and alternative assets. Selected for the Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab. Enterprise partnership with Sotheby's Institute of Art. Techstars New York, powered by J.P. Morgan. 1st Place, MIT Fintech Conference 2025. Startup Battlefield 200 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt.
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2024 to now
Product Management Lead
PayAngelProduct and data leadership for a multi-award-winning cross-border payments company processing $15 million monthly to 40 countries, including data architecture for regulatory compliance across African markets.
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2021 to 2023
Technical Co-founder & CEO
Oarbt 3D SoftwarePioneered 3D immersive e-commerce software for creative and retail businesses. Secured £750,000 from Amazon, Innovate UK and Visible Hands VC. Selected for the AWS Impact Accelerator ($225,000) and a UK Department for International Trade diplomatic mission to the US.
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2016 to 2018
Founding Member
Sotheby's, Modern & Contemporary African ArtHelped establish an entirely new auction category for a global audience. Business development and client relations on consignments from $10,000 to $1.2 million. Opened markets in Lagos and Accra. Authored market analysis on the Sotheby's platform. Featured in the Financial Times and on CNN.
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Education
Queen's University & Sotheby's Institute of Art
Smith School of Business · LondonBachelor of Commerce, Queen's University Smith School of Business. Post-graduate certification, Sotheby's Institute of Art (accredited by the University of Manchester). Only student in the Sotheby's Institute class hired full-time by an auction house.
Selected awards and distinctions.
National and international recognition across art, technology, and financial innovation.
1st Place, MIT Fintech Conference
Top award at one of the world's largest student-run fintech conferences, judged by financial services executives.
Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab
Selected for one of the most competitive programs in financial services, from hundreds of global applicants.
Techstars New York
Selected for the J.P. Morgan-powered accelerator (under 1% acceptance). $125,000 investment plus program resources.
Winner, The PITCH
$17,500 at Culture Shifting Summit, Silicon Valley, backed by UBS, Aura and Silicon Valley Bank.
digitalundivided Fellowship
2nd Place ($25,000) in a year-long fellowship for scaling women-led businesses.
AWS Impact Accelerator
$225,000. One of 25 startups selected globally for Amazon's inaugural Impact Accelerator for Black Founders.
Telegraph & NatWest Top 10
Named one of the UK's Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, from over 1,000 national applicants.
UK Trade Mission to the US
Selected by the UK Department for International Trade to represent British innovation to American investors.
Apollo Magazine 40 Under 40
Named among the top 40 innovators under 40 in the global art industry for pioneering online 3D viewing rooms.
Unique expertise at the intersection.
Few people have built a market inside a major auction house, published scholarship on it, and now model it at scale with data science.
How culture is priced
I study the economics of art, luxury and collectibles: how value is formed, how new categories are built, and why listed prices and realised prices diverge. Grounded in a career inside Sotheby's and published scholarship.
Intelligence where none existed
I build AI-powered market intelligence for luxury collectibles and alternative assets, turning opaque, unstructured markets into institutional-grade signal across millions of records.
Building from zero, twice
Founder of ALT/FNDATA and former Technical Co-founder & CEO of Oarbt 3D. Raising, hiring, and shipping across art-tech and fintech, backed by Techstars, AWS Impact Accelerator, Innovate UK and Visible Hands.
Deep expertise across luxury consumer goods, spanning watches, handbags, jewellery, art, and collector cars, and the finance of the markets they trade in, from pricing and valuation to the behaviour of alternative assets. Scholarly work published in NKA Journal (Duke University Press) and on the Sotheby's platform.
Where I add the most value.
For boards, partners, and teams evaluating Sharon Obuobi for a project, these are the advantages that matter most.
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01
Rare domain depth on both sides of the market
I have built a category inside Sotheby's and the data layer for those markets at ALT/FNDATA. Most candidates know luxury and art, or fintech data, not both.
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02
An economist's questions, a data scientist's tools
I pair the questions of cultural economics with the models and infrastructure to answer them, and a founder's habit of shipping from ALT/FNDATA and Oarbt 3D. Analysis that becomes evidence, systems, and decisions.
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03
Institutional credibility, already proven
Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab, Techstars New York powered by J.P. Morgan, MIT Fintech 1st Place, AWS Impact Accelerator, and a UK trade mission. That shortens trust-building with boards and enterprise buyers.
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04
Signal in markets where clean data does not exist
I specialize in alternative data and market intelligence for opaque luxury and financial markets: pricing, valuation, portfolio insight, and turning unstructured signal into evidence.
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05
Public proof and a press-ready narrative
Featured in CNN, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, Apollo Magazine and TechCrunch. Apollo 40 Under 40. Useful when a project needs a credible external voice or speaking leadership.
Best-fit engagements: research and data science on art, luxury and alternative-asset markets; pricing, valuation and market intelligence; board and advisory roles where domain plus analytical depth matter; keynotes and executive briefings on the economics of culture, alternative assets, and data.
Six shows produced and hosted.
From daily luxury-market briefings at ALT/FNDATA to conversations with artists and curators, I produce and host shows that turn opaque markets and creative practice into signal you can follow.
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Daily · Mornings
Open Bid
Weekday morning briefing on stocks, auctions, and the luxury market. The numbers that matter before the open.
Listen on Spotify → -
Daily · Evenings
Closing Price
End-of-day equity analysis on luxury firms and auctions. What moved, and what the secondary market said back.
Listen on Spotify → -
Weekly
Art Market
Global fine art trends, auction data, and market insights for collectors and institutions.
Listen on Spotify → -
Weekly
Luxury Spending
Auction trends in jewellery, watches, gems, and handbags. What collectors are actually buying.
Listen on Spotify → -
Weekly
Auto Market
Collector cars, motorcycles, and aircraft. Auction data and trends across the wheeled and winged markets.
Listen on Spotify → -
Series
In Studio with Sharon Obuobi
Conversations with artists, curators, and influencers across African arts and the diaspora. Guests have included Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ibrahim Mahama, and Lina Iris Viktor.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →
A weekly column on LinkedIn.
I write each week on alternative assets, luxury markets, and the gap between listed prices and what actually sells. Read the archive, or follow along on LinkedIn.
Talks that change how a room sees value.
Keynotes and fireside conversations for conferences, corporate events and private gatherings, drawn from studying and building at the intersection of culture, data and markets.
The Alternative Asset Economy
Watches, art, jewellery and cars are becoming a serious asset class. Where the money is moving, who is moving it, and why it matters now.
Building Data Where None Exists
How to turn opaque, unstructured, deeply human markets into intelligence that people can actually trust and act on.
The Economics of Culture
Why art, watches and collectibles resist standard pricing models, what really drives their value, and what the data reveals about taste, scarcity and demand.
Founding at the Frontier
Lessons from building a company that did not exist yet, raising in an overlooked market, and staying convicted when the map runs out.
Recent stages.
Need to understand what culture is worth?
Best fit for research and data science on cultural and alternative-asset markets, board and advisory roles, and speaking. Tell me what you're working on and where you'd like a partner.
Get in touch → Or email me directly at hello@sharonobuobi.com