VALART, the collection management app, went live on Wednesday (October 22). The app allows collectors to organise and get accurate valuations for their items, and helps businesses provide services to collectors.
Using AI, the app identifies, organises and values collectibles across every category – from toys and trading cards to antiques and art – all collectors need to do is upload a photograph of their item.
Collectors can now easily manage what they have, rather than rely on painful manual solutions, such as spreadsheets and lists in a Notes app, or the chaos of not tracking their collection at all.
In addition, Valart provides a legacy planning tool to help collectors pass on their collection should something happen. All too often, relatives don’t understand the worth of an inherited collection and sell it too cheaply.
Valart also partners with businesses, such as insurers, wealth managers and probate lawyers.
Previously, collectors struggled to access these services as providers struggled to understand what a collection is worth. With Valart, they can accurately understand an items’ value and so provide their services to collectors.
This year, the business won Most Innovative Start Up, Wales, at the UK Start Up Awards, and has also been awarded by the Baltic Ventures Launchpad.
Anglesey-based founder Elliot Riley-Walsh began Valart after a degenerative spinal condition forced him to abandon a promising junior athletics career. Turning to collecting for focus and fulfilment, Elliot soon realised that managing and valuing his collection was almost impossible.
Elliot said: “Collecting got me through a dark time. For millions of people like me, it gives joy, fulfilment and plenty of nostalgia.
“Yet despite being a £378bn global market, collectors have both struggled to manage their collection and to access to financial and professional services. Valart changes that.
“We give collectors the respect – and recognition – they deserve. We’re a collector’s best friend.”
