Tech founder Niall Crosby left a will valued at €16.5 million after he died in a tragic helicopter accident in July 2024, papers published by the Probate Office have shown.
Mr Crosby founded London-based data-processing software company AG Grid. The company’s product is similar to Microsoft’s Excel, a data grid built for enterprise use. It is widely considered the fastest JavaScript data grid in the world and is a market leader in the category.
Mr Crosby lived in the Glenageary area of south Dublin, but was originally from Straffan, Co Kildare. A passionate helicopter pilot, he died alongside his flight instructor in a crash in Co Westmeath while he was undergoing flight training.
The net value of the estate stood just above €11.5 million after taxation.
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His company was a success story based around Mr Crosby creating an open-source version of the software after noticing a gap in the market for a high-speed datagrid while working as a freelance developer. Following the success of the software, he left his work as a consultant with the Royal Bank of Scotland and founded the company AG Grid, which he led until his death.
“AG Grid would not be where we are today without our founder Niall Crosby – a truly inspiring and unique individual who left his indelible mark on the world, as well as on his friends and colleagues,” the company says of its founder on its website.
“Niall was different to other founders from the start – the company was a reflection of his personality,” it continued, describing Mr Crosby as a “fiercely independent thinker” and vowing to carry his memory forward in the business. “His legacy lives on in the ambition, creativity and care he instilled in everyone at AG Grid.”
More than 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies use the company’s product, AG Grid claims, with customers including software and technology giants such as Adobe, Microsoft, PayPal and IBM. The company also counts Amazon, numerous financial institutions including JP Morgan and BNP Paribas, as well as Nasa among its enterprise users.
The UK-registered business recorded revenue of £17.9 million (€20.6 million) in 2023, according to documents published on Companies House. Software sales grew 16 per cent against the previous financial year following the launch of a new product AG Charts Enterprise.
Pretax profits increased slightly, from £6.5 million in 2022 to £6.6 million in 2023.
The company is now led by John Masterson, a friend of Mr Crosby and one of the original members of the AG Grid team.
