Belfast start-up, Asset Reality, selected by global accelerator Techstars

Asset Reality, founded by Belfast man Aidan Larkin, is one of just 12 companies in the world selected for the prestigious 2021 international Techstars Programme.

A worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, Techstars accepts less than 1% of applicants onto the programme putting Asset Reality in line for a major $1m dollar investment with the world’s largest tech accelerator.

Base in Belfast, Dublin, London and Wales, Asset Reality manages and sells criminal assets and was only launched a spare bedroom 18 months ago just as the pandemic started.

Aidan, CEO, said: “Being selected for Techstars will accelerate our ability to drive investment and will mean new software development and create new roles across the UK and Ireland as the company grows and expands. The new normal of hybrid working allows us to draw on a wider talent pool of local and international recruits for our new offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Dublin and London as well as aiding our expansion into the US.

“The money raised from proceeds of crime sales gives law enforcement budgets to keep us safe, pays back victims of crime and funds charities and good causes. Literally billions of pounds every year is wasted through inefficient systems and processes when dealing with complex seized assets.

“There is a major opportunity to build solutions to deal with seized cryptocurrency better, for example, and our platform will allow enforcement agencies around the world to recover, manage and sell their assets in one single platform.

“We were a little stunned when we got that email saying we’d been accepted onto the Techstars London programme. I’m incredibly proud of the company and our team and the fact that we are only the fifth company from the island of Ireland to be accepted onto this international programme, fills me with pride.”

Having an incredible network of mentors, alumni, investors and team led by Eamonn Carey, Aidan added: “We are really excited for the future considering the company only launched this idea from a spare bedroom 18 months ago just as the pandemic started. To realise the scale of the opportunity, we have we look to our crypto partner Chainalysis, who also started off in Techstars in 2015, as a small start-up and have now grown to a $4 billion dollar company. Whilst my co-founders, Hugo Elliott and Nick Furneaux and I have our feet firmly on the ground, it’s wonderful to have that network that allows us to think big.”

Eamonn Carey, MD of Techstars London, says he is particularly excited with the inclusion of Asset Reality in this 10h anniversary intake: “Law enforcement agencies have no IT solutions for effectively tracking, managing, and selling seized assets. Asset Reality’s platform will provide a combined case management solution and online asset manager tool to solve these problems and additionally give the public access to a new ‘ebay’ style marketplace to help save time and dramatically increase revenue from the sale of seized assets.”

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