Ex-Battlefield Devs Raise €2M to Tackle Europe’s New Accessibility Law

A new wave of regulatory change is sweeping across Europe, compelling businesses serving its 450 million citizens to meet fresh accessibility standards. Much like the earlier introduction of GDPR, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has organizations racing to update their digital storefronts, banking applications, and service platforms. While comparable guidelines exist in the United States, a significant compliance gap remains for countless companies, both large and small.

Irish entrepreneur Cormac Chisholm expressed surprise at the last-minute rush. “We were approached by massive corporations just two weeks before the deadline, claiming they had no prior knowledge of the requirements,” he noted. His startup, DevAlly, is positioned at the forefront of this shift, offering technology that identifies accessibility shortcomings and guides firms toward compliance. The EAA imposes substantial fines on newly launched non-compliant products and services, though pre-existing offerings have until 2030 to adapt.

Since its launch this year, DevAlly has specialized in detecting common barriers, such as corporate videos without captions. The platform also monitors issues reported by users, assists in developing correction plans, and produces detailed accessibility documentation. Although human auditors can perform similar checks, Chisholm argues that manual methods lack the scalability needed to keep pace with digital product cycles. DevAlly supplements its team of accessibility specialists with artificial intelligence and large language models to automate testing and tracking, weaving compliance directly into the development process.

This strategy resembles the one that propelled cybersecurity compliance firm Vanta to a multi-billion dollar valuation. Riding this regulatory momentum, DevAlly recently closed a €2 million pre-seed funding round. The investment will support expanding the team from five to fifteen by year’s end, with a focus on growing its Dublin base, where it took part in an accelerator run by Dogpatch Labs for Enterprise Ireland.

Belgian fund Miles Ahead Capital led the financing, joined by NDRC, Enterprise Ireland, and several European angel investors. The founders credit tech conference Slush, where they placed in the top three of a startup competition, for introducing them to their lead backer. “Convention in Ireland might be to partner with a local venture firm, but we chose a pan-European route. We’re eager to discover the opportunities this investor network unlocks,” Chisholm remarked.

With backing from Miles Ahead, DevAlly is preparing to launch U.S. operations, beginning with a sales push in San Francisco. Participation in TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield 2024 provided valuable connections to accessibility leads at major B2B software firms. Co-founder and chief revenue officer Patrick Guiney confirmed, “A large portion of our current client base is located on the West Coast.”

While the EAA has driven DevAlly’s early growth in Europe, a trend also seen with other startups like Barcelona’s QualiBooth, the American market holds significant potential. The company views procurement requirements as a major future demand driver. Chisholm emphasizes that good design is inherently accessible design, pointing out that disabled individuals and their families wield an estimated $8 trillion in annual disposable income. He also highlighted situational disabilities, such as struggling to view a screen in bright sunlight or being unable to press buttons while holding an infant, underscoring the need for universal design principles.

Remedial actions for companies can include adding screen reader compatibility, improving color contrast, and ensuring interfaces are usable by those with color vision deficiencies. However, a recent analysis by UX/UI agency Tenscope revealed that 94% of the leading 1,000 U.S. websites fail to meet basic accessibility criteria. The travel sector performed particularly poorly, with many sites blocking users from completing essential tasks like filling out contact forms, creating accounts, or making purchases. Even before the EAA, Spanish airline Vueling faced penalties for an inaccessible website.

As the EAA applies across numerous EU jurisdictions, each with its own penalty structure, multinational tech corporations may find themselves seeking expert guidance. “We aim to serve as a bridge to Europe for these American companies,” Chisholm stated. Widespread adoption of accessibility improvements, such as the subtitles now standard on Netflix, ultimately benefits everyone. “These enhancements represent major steps forward in how we all interact with technology. It simply results in better design,” he added.

(Source: TechCrunch)