A fledgling start-up business which has been hit by burglars twice in the last six months has launched its own fight against crime.

Hackney Gazette: Staff at Rentify are shaken by second burglary in less than six monthsStaff at Rentify are shaken by second burglary in less than six months (Image: Dieter Perry)

Online letting agent Rentify in Shoreditch High Street has released its own CCTV footage of a man they want the police to speak to in connection with the latest break in which is thought to have happened at around 12.15am last Sunday morning (Jan 18).

Staff turned up to the Shoreditch premises last Monday morning to find three pricey Apple Mac laptops worth between £900 and £1,000 each. It follows a similar burglary in August last year in which seven of the computers were stolen.

Both incidents have been a massive blow for the growing company which employs 22 people and claims to be one of the fastest growing start-ups in the UK.

Robin Sturney, chief marketing officer for Rentify said: “Staff are shaken. This brings team morale down, especially for the three people whose desks were ransacked

“It’s been challenging. It’s frustrating for companies such as ourselves. We are growing exponentially. This is a cost hit.

“Insurance companies are supportive but our premiums get hit. Being a start-up means our premiums are already high. It’s something we have to take on the chin. We have to start again. It means that three people can’t work which means that we have to go out and buy lap-tops. And we have to have the cash available to do that. For some companies that would be hard to do.

“For our public perception it’s very important for us to keep our level of customer service up to the level we pride ourselves on. This is not ideal. Nobody deserves this.

“On the plus side, all our data is secure and we have encrypted software on the lap-tops.”

The company was established in 2011 and moved from Soho to Shoreditch – an area which has been popularly dubbed Tech City -in April.

The company asked anybody with any information to call police on 101 with incident number 4601623/14.