With the pandemic limiting spending on dining and travel, lockdowns creating massive engagement to pass time, and individuals focused on their financial security served as a catalyst that led to a renewed interest in collectibles. From baseball cards to NFTs to fine wine, investors, speculators, and average citizens began pouring funds into investments that have traditionally been reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Koia is an alternative investment platform that democratizes the ownership of highly-coveted collectibles by offering fractional ownership and allows users to buy, collect, and trade these alternative assets. The platform offers ownership in a unique, verified, and rare assets that are acquired by the recently-launched company that also handles storage, insurance, and maintenance. Individuals can invest in each asset “drop” for as little as €50. Koia features fine wines, rare scotches, card collectibles, and fine watches with plans to offer any physical or digital asset. London TechWatch caught up with Koia Cofounder and CEO Iris ten Teije to learn more about the growth in alternate asset investing, the founding team’s inspiration to launch the business, Koia’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Seedcamp, RTP Global, and Portfolio Ventures.