Asset Reality (Techstars 2021) is a London-based company that is redefining how governments and law enforcement agencies handle the complex world of seized assets. By providing a unified operating system which combines a global system of record with government‑grade digital asset custody infrastructure, the company replaces fragmented tools and manual processes to help agencies seize crypto and manage inventories of everything from luxury cars and real estate to complex digital assets like cryptocurrency.

Emilie Vallauri, Global Program Manager at Techstars, sat down with Aidan Larkin, CEO and co-founder, to discuss his journey from Belfast in Northern Ireland to building a global platform that is bringing transparency to a multi-trillion dollar problem.

Emilie Vallauri: To kick things off, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?

Aidan Larkin: My background is quite different from the typical tech founder. I dropped out of school at 16 and eventually joined the government, starting in the mailroom of the UK tax authority. Over the course of 10 years, I worked my way up to investigating criminals and seizing their assets. Eventually, I became the UK’s seized asset manager, responsible for teams managing cars, boats, and planes seized from criminals. I was also one of the first people in the world to manage and sell seized crypto for a government agency.

Emilie: And who are the other members of your founding team? How did you meet?

Aidan Larkin: My original co-founders are Nick Furneaux and Hugo Elliott. Nick is a renowned blockchain investigation expert who wrote the first book on investigating cryptocurrencies; I originally hired him as a consultant in my old government job. Hugo comes from a military and finance background—having worked at Deutsche Bank—and he was an experienced startup entrepreneur to complement our deep technical and industry experience when going through the Techstars program in London in 2021.

Emilie: How did the idea for Asset Reality start? What problem were you solving?

Aidan Larkin: It started when I realized how fractured the asset recovery process was. There is a horrible statistic that only 1% of illicit finance assets are recovered globally, leaving 99% on the table. While there were great tools for finding digital assets, there were no "shovels" for the actual seizure and management. I was flying back from international conferences in 2019 and realized that no country had a proper system for this; most were just using spreadsheets to manage multi-million dollar cases. I wanted to build an operating system for seized assets to solve this multi-trillion dollar problem.

Emilie: For clarity, what does Asset Reality do and why is it so important?

Aidan Larkin: Asset Reality is the operating system that governments and asset recovery practitioners use to seize, manage, and dispose of assets across their entire life cycle. We replace fragmented tools with one secure, cloud-based platform. It’s critical because when you shut down money laundering, you impact national security. Our tools make it easier for agencies to go after complicated cases they might otherwise ignore, ultimately getting money back to victims, like pensioners who have been scammed.

Emilie: What are the largest challenges you’ve faced building the product?

Aidan Larkin: The single biggest challenge is regulatory uncertainty. Most governments are still figuring out what they are going to do with digital assets, and positions can change between administrations. It makes planning a product roadmap or fundraising difficult when you can't be certain what the landscape will look like in 18 months. However, we’ve turned that into a moat; we’ve spent years going through this with different agencies, building regulated infrastructure that competitors can’t just replicate overnight.

Emilie: What sets you apart from competitors?

Aidan Larkin: We don’t really have a direct competitor that offers a dedicated seized asset platform. Our biggest competitor is "inertia"—agencies choosing to do nothing or trying to build a "Frankenstein" system of spreadsheets and hardware wallets. Unlike big crypto exchanges that have small government teams, we built our technology from the ground up specifically for this industry's unique needs.

Emilie: You’ve achieved a lot in this very complex industry. What’s your proudest recent milestone?

Aidan Larkin: Getting our Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registration in the UK was a huge validation, especially given our business model focuses on holding the world's "worst" assets. Separately, we just won our first major multi-year competitive tender for the French government to manage the liquidation of all their seized crypto assets.

In Q1 alone we've added government and law enforcement agencies from the Caribbean, Canada, US, UK, and multiple European countries, and we've helped return over $2.6 million to the victims of a widespread fraud case in Bangladesh which would have otherwise been impossible without Asset Reality providing the unique services that we offer to these agencies. We also have zero churn; every client who worked with us on our first MVP in 2021 is still a customer today. Finally, we are nearly at the milestone of $1 billion in digital asset transactions and over 1500 crypto seizures conducted through the platform.

Emilie: And are you fundraising right now?

Aidan Larkin: Yes, we are currently raising a Series A+ round. Asset Reality is becoming the system of record for digital asset enforcement and recovery. After 5 consecutive quarters of compounding growth with Q1 2026 being our strongest quarter ever - the numbers are beginning to reflect the compounding effect of the platform we've been building. We’re looking to capitalize on that momentum as we scale. The launch of multiple global RFPs and new international regulations mean Government Agencies must have solutions like ours to improve Asset Recovery efforts and we’re struggling to keep up with demand.

Emilie: Your founder journey is incredibly inspiring. What advice would you give aspiring founders starting out? Something you wish you knew.

Aidan Larkin: Position yourself as a thought leader in your sector. You don’t need a big conference; just do a webinar or a lunch-and-learn where you answer actual questions for your target audience. If you can provide value and expertise, they will trust the software you give them. Also, avoid the "AI slop" content production race and focus on what you actually do well.

Emilie: Finally, why did you participate in the Techstars accelerator? I’m curious about what this experience brought you.

Aidan Larkin: The co-founder of Chainalysis [i.e. another Techstars portfolio company] was one of the first believers in our mission and actually advised me to apply to Techstars. In parallel, I met someone who was mentoring for the London program, and nudged us to apply. During the application process, I was interviewed by Chris Adelsbach [i.e. former Techstars Managing Director], who became one of our first angel investors, and the positive flywheel was launched! Post-program, I’ve spoke at our cohorts and really embraced the #givefirst ethos and recently volunteered to mentor for the Techstars Founder Catalyst program in Belfast… a true full circle moment for me.

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