Fable Tech Labs pulls in seed financing led by Disruption Ventures

Fable Tech Labs, a Toronto-based online platform that helps digital teams engage people with disabilities, has secured US$1.5 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by Disruption Ventures, a Canadian women-focused venture capital firm. It was joined by Village Global, Globalive Capital, Innovation Grade Ventures and several angel investors.

PRESS RELEASE

July 27, 2020
Today, Fable Tech Labs announced a $1.5 million USD seed round led by Toronto-based Disruption Ventures, with participation from San Francisco based Village Global, Globalive Capital, Innovation Grade Ventures,and several angel investors.

COVID has companies rushing to go digital. But many were already falling behind, particularly when it comes to digital accessibility. Yesterday, July 26, was the 30-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and it’s more important than ever, with the number of companies being sued for non-compliance is a big problem. But more than legal issues, companies are waking up to the market reality, as according to the CDC, 61M people or 1 in 4 American adults, live with a disability. More Americans are aging, with the expected population of Americans over age 65 doubling to 80M in the next 20 years.

And nearly half of them will likely have at least 1 disability, consistent with the most recent US Census Bureau data. Getting good work matters because only 19% of Americans with disabilities are employed, compared to 66% of Americans without a disability.

Some companies, like Walmart and Slack, are taking action on accessibility. They are working with Fable, a crowdtesting platform, that makes it easy to test websites and apps with people with disabilities. Fable helps build products that are more functional, reach more people, and that are future proof.

The financing will help Fable support more business with their digital accessibility needs, grow our team, build strategic partnerships, and develop new products

Quote from CEO
“People with disabilities are uniquely qualified to say what’s accessible and what’s not. They live the experience. Now, Fable makes it easy to engage them at scale to make websites and apps accessible.”
– Alwar Pillai, CEO

Quote from Person with a disability
“Everyone has the right to access digital platforms – no matter who they are, or what abilities they have. Fable makes this happen by paying people with disabilities to be part of the solution.” – Sam Proulx, Community Manager

Quote from Lead investor
“As our world becomes increasingly more digitized, engaging people with disabilities can be a real challenge – particularly at a distance. Fable helps companies and their products be inclusive, and we see great opportunity in that.”
– Elaine Kunda, Managing Partner at Disruption Ventures