AccessiBe

accessiBe is a technology company working to solve the problem of web accessibility through AI.^[1][2] The company has raised $58 million in two rounds of funding.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

History

accessiBe was founded in 2018 by Dekel Skoop, Gal Vizel and Shir Ekerling.^[8][9] The founders worked on developing proprietary software in order to make websites accessible for people with disabilities.^[10][11][12]

accessiBe launched its flagship product, accessWidget, as a tool that scans and attempts to remediate websites in real-time, attempting to achieve ADA compliance through implementing WCAG 2.1 guidelines.^[13][14] The product claims to make website publishers ADA compliant within hours of deploying accessiBe's code, so that people with disabilities can easily access and interact with these websites.^[15][16] In 2021 accessiBe added to its ecosystem of tools, accessFlow,^[17] a testing and remediation platform for developers on the source code level.

Fundraising

accessiBe first raised $500,000 from private investors including Nadav Dakner, Elad Mor, Itai Elizur, Oron Yaffe.^[18] In May 2020, the company raised $12 million in Series A funding from K1 Investment Management.^{[19][20][21][22]} In February 2021, closed its series A funding with $28 million from K1 Investment Management, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm investing primarily in software and technology private companies across North America, took a minority stake in accessiBe Systems Ltd. with intentions to help accessiBe to expand in North America.^{[1][23][24][25]}

By February 2021, accessiBe's annual recurring revenue has shown a growth of more than 3.5x in 12 months, which led to additional funding from K1, totaling $28 million.^[26] Company leaders have announced that they are planning to use the funds to significantly expand its US presence, grow its R&D department and continue educating the market on the importance of web accessibility.^[27][28]

In August 2022 accessiBe raised an additional $30 Million as an extension to its previous Series A^[7][29] bringing its total funding to $58 Million.

Criticism and concerns

Many web accessibility experts agree that accessibility overlay software like AccessiBe can actually cause accessibility issues and create a false sense of accessibility for their clients.^[30]

• During their 2021 convention the National Federation of the Blind made resolutions that condemned the use of accessibility overlays as an inadequate solution^[31] and described accessiBe's marketing and business practices as "disrespectful and misleading".^[32]
• Steve Faulkner, member of the W3C Web Platforms Working Group,^[33] says accessibility plugins can't fix fundamental issues or replicate existing browser functionality.^[34]
• Haben Girma, disability rights lawyer, author, and speaker, urges companies to stay away from accessiBe and other companies in the same space.^[35]

Many industry professionals have criticized the entire product category.^[36][37]

Lawsuits

There have been around 100 lawsuits against companies after they invested in a widget-based solution,^[38] most prominently ADP,^[39] and two have named accessiBe specifically: Thomas Klaus and Robert Jahoda v. Upright Technologies,^[40] and Kolesar v. Bylt, LLC.^[41]

See also

• Start-up Nation
• Userway
• Israeli technology

References

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