Awake Overnight

Making life better for people with disabilities is a laudable goal, but accessibility tech hasn’t traditionally been popular among VCs. In 2022, disability tech companies attracted around $4 billion in early-stage investments, which was a fraction of fintech’s intake, for example.One reason is that disability tech startups are often considered too niche to attain business viability — at least on the scale that venture capital demands. By definition, they are assumed to be building for a minority. However, some startups in the space have also begun serving the wider population — and throwing in some AI always helps. Both cases are a balancing act: The wider business case needs to make sense without losing sight of the startup’s mission statement. AI, meanwhile, needs to be leveraged in a non-gimmicky way to pass the due diligence sniff test.Some accessibility-focused startups understand these necessities, and their strategies are worth a look. Here are four European startups doing just that. VisualfyImage Credits: VisualfyVisualfy leverages AI to improve the lives of people with hearing loss

Ali Jawad is a British Paralympic powerlifting champion, and he has a conviction: “Exercise must be seen as something for all, regardless of impairment.”Jawad’s belief is the reason why he joined forces with his former agent and fellow British athlete Sam Brearey to launch Accessercise, a fitness app for people who want to exercise despite their disabilities. The startup was among the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023.In its first onboarding step, Accessercise asks users about their disabilities, such as a missing upper or lower limb. The next questions ask them about their current level of exercise, and whether they need somebody to assist them.Image Credits: AccesserciseThe onboarding process is key to what happens next: In Accessercise, each disability is specifically supported.“If you have one leg, you’ll only see videos which are scientifically valid and relative to you so they’re proven to be safe and to help you, and they’ll be demonstrated by somebody who also has one leg,” Brearey told me. “That’s really important to not only be relatable, but also to make sure that we’re being very specific in our support [of] each different impairment.”A focus on empowermentBecause Accessercise focuses on empowerment, it doesn’t come with pre-built routines. Instead, users can pick and choose from the existing videos to build their own training plans, Brearey said. “You can build your own workouts, you can schedule them [in] your calendar, you can set reminders, you can filter exercises based on where you want to train, what muscle groups you want to train, how difficult you want it to be and what equipment you have available.”To help users stick to their training, Accessercise also includes social features such as sharing and liking comments, as well as groups

Perkins, the historic British engine maker, a subsidiary of Caterpillar, will develop a net-zero, hydrogen-hybrid, integrated power system for off-highway vehicles.