Last year, Anthony Murphy, a visually impaired man who lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, visited the website of eyewear retailer Eyebobs using screen reader software. Its synthesized voice attempted to read out the page's content, as well as navigation buttons and menus. Eyebobs used artificial intelligence software from Israeli startup AccessiBe that promised to make its site easier for people with disabilities to use. But Murphy found it made it harder. AccessiBe says it can simplify the work of making websites accessible to people with impaired vision or other challenges by "replacing a costly, manual process with an automated, state-of-the-art AI technology."

Given the need for compliance and the growing number of digital services that need to have more inclusive access, web accessibility is no longer a trivial or low-priority concern for business websites. According to one Pew Internet Project survey, 54% of adults with disabilities use the internet. However, based on a recent analysis of the top 1 million websites by WebAIM, 98.1 percent of home pages have compliance issues with the Web Accessibility Guidelines 2 (WCAG 2). Also, the study reports that 97.8% of internal pages do not pass WCAG 2 standards. "Significant work remains to be done to make the web accessible to everyone," the study concludes. The most common failures detected were low contrast text, missing alternative text for images, empty links, absence of form input labels, and missing document language. These failures are not difficult to address. The problem is that many website owners fail to pay attention to such issues.

The web accessibility market has undergone a tremendous amount of upheaval over the past five years. Most recently, the societal aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic have reminded everyone of the importance of universal access to digital services. Since 2015, there has also been an explosion of litigation, including class-action lawsuits filed under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) against organizations that have failed to make their websites accessible to disabled people. In 2018, the number of web accessibility lawsuits in the U.S. increased by 177% from the previous year to 2,258. Up to 20% of the population have a disability, be it visual, auditory, or motor, requiring a computer access intervention.

It automates the process by which companies and website owners make their content accessible to users with hearing, visual, and motor impairments as well as some other functional disabilities. The total funding company raised is $12.5M in funding over 2 rounds. It's an AI-based solution scans website and automatically offers key modifications to transmit data and accessible content to end-users in a manner compliant with the international and US disability standards, which includes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Executive Opinion Shir Ekerling, Co-founder and CEO of accessiBe, said, "What excites us most about our partnership with K1 is that now, with the amazing support of our investors, we can bring accessibility to the world. Our vision is to make the internet truly accessible to everyone. By utilizing machine learning, our solution can help millions of businesses comply with legislation and avoid lawsuits on the one hand, while enabling users with disabilities to browse the internet effectively on the other. Mike Velcich, Principal at K1, said, "K1 is excited to partner with Shir Ekerling and the accessiBe team as they continue their rapid global expansion.

There are about one billion people living with disability around the world. In the United States, 61 million Americans live with some form of disability. Unfortunately, despite their significant numbers, efforts to ensure that they have equal access to spaces, utilities, and services remain lacking. Take technology and the internet, for example. Disabled people typically need assistive devices and applications to use computers.