The founders: Shir Ekerling, co-CEO of the company, Dekel Scoop, co-CEO and Gal Wiesel, VP of Sales (Photo: Exsiv)
Three childhood friends from Ra'anana dreamed of big money from a young age, but precisely when they decided to step aside from the race in favor of helping others - they began to see it.
The "Runners for a Million" break began with the awakening of the public discourse surrounding the additions to the 'Regulations on equal rights for people with disabilities' in 2017, which require the accessibility of websites for people with disabilities.
The public discourse created as a result of them led the entrepreneurs to a new marathon route, which was supposed to serve mainly the heart, and along the way also led to filling the pocket.
The three discovered how complex and expensive it is to make websites accessible - especially to the owners of small and medium-sized businesses, which constitute the main amount of websites in the digital air.
They began to examine solutions to the issue and within two years founded the technological accessibility company 'Accessible', which later became 'Excessive'.
Exsive makes websites and digital websites accessible using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, and enables a solution for any company or business, regardless of the size of the business, its resources, and the technological knowledge and capabilities it possesses.
The data of the World Health Organization shows that about 1.3 billion people, which make up about 16% of the world's population, have some kind of disability, and that accessibility allows for increased productivity and generates $10 for every $1 invested in it.
However, only about 3% of the internet sites in the world are accessible for people with disabilities, thus excluding the latter against their will from opportunities for employment, education, commerce, and even receiving information.
A report by the American market survey company Vantage Market Research from last August showed that the size of the technological accessibility market was 21.8 billion dollars in 2021, and that it is expected to be 28.8 billion dollars in 2028 - a growth of 4.8% year after year. Of that, about half a billion dollars was the size of the digital accessibility niche, which is expected, according to the market survey company Verified Market Research, to be approximately $770 million by 2028.
Israel, by the way, was the first country to pass regulations requiring the accessibility of websites that provide 'public service' to those with disabilities, in accordance with the section 19 of the Equal Rights Law.
According to the 'Israeli Commission for Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities', every private body, in addition to public bodies and non-profit organizations, operating for profit, is obliged to make its website accessible to people with disabilities.
The lack of accessibility, according to the commission, allows people with disabilities to sue the owners of the website, unless the latter made it accessible within 60 days of receiving the notice of the hazard.
AccessiBe, ID card
Field of activity
: technological accessibility, in the digital niche
Date of establishment: 2018
Founders
: Shir Ekerling (33), who serves as joint CEO of the company, Dekel Scoop (33), joint CEO and Gal Wiesel (33), VP of Sales.
Vision
: To make the Internet equal by making the possibility of using it accessible even to those with disabilities, through artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Employees
: 170, of which 100 are in Israel and the rest in New York
. The company's total fundraising since its establishment
: 58 million dollars.
Among the investors
: the American K1 Foundation, the Gillot Foundation, the Phoenix
Major clients
: General Electric, NBC network, Dolce Gabbana, Oreo chocolate brand, soccer player Leo Messi's fashion brand
Companies operating in the field
: Audioeye, accessible by clicking
CEO's statement
: "Exsive has become the spearhead in making websites and digital websites accessible through artificial intelligence and machine learning, and enables those with disabilities to be part of the tribal section, in an effective, independent and equal manner. The
accessibility gaps are enormous, and come in the form of websites that do not know how to communicate with technologies such as screen readers for the blind, or Keyboard navigation for those who cannot use a mouse due to a limitation in their upper limbs. These gaps exclude those with disabilities from a multitude of options such as gathering information, employment, and acquiring an education.
Today, Excessive products are found on approximately 160,000 websites around the world, mainly in the US, and more italicized".
Of money
world money
Tags
High tech
start up
accessibility