Evinced Inc., a startup that has built tools designed to make websites and software applications more accessible to people with disabilities, said today it has raised $17 million in an early-stage round of funding.

Microsoft Corp.’s venture fund M12 co-led the Series A round with BGV and Capital One Ventures. Engineering Capital, a seed investor in Evinced, also participated in the round.

Evinced founder and Chief Executive Navin Thadani explained that his company has built artificial intelligence-based software that’s able to visually analyze websites and applications, create a structural semantic model and then compare this with the underlying code base to detect any accessibility issues they might have. The software then suggests fixes, so developers can easily fix their websites and apps and make them more accessible.

“The root cause of accessibility problems is the fact that large parts of the web are not machine readable; instead, they were designed for visual consumption,” Thadani said.

Evinced says enterprises have a responsibility to ensure their digital assets are accessible, citing World Health Organization data that says over a billion people worldwide live with some form of disability that could hinder their access to the Web. Not only is it a moral duty, but also a legal one for many enterprises, as Evinced points to a huge rise in the number of web-related lawsuits linked to rules around accessibility compliance in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The problem for companies is that it’s almost impossible for manual audit processes to keep up with the rapid pace at which they build and deploy new software. That’s where Envinced’s tools come in: helping automate accessibility checks throughout the software development cycle and suggest code changes to remediate any issues it finds.

Evinced’s toolbox includes a Dev Debugger browser extension that enables developers to discover and fix issues before they push new code, plus an Automation/CI tool that helps to automate accessibility testing using existing user interface end-to-end tests. It also provides a User-flow Analyzer tool for quality assurance teams to detect accessibility issues and file bug reports, and specialized tools for detecting issues with iOS-based apps. Finally, it offers a software-as-a-service-based Site Scanner tool that’s able to crawl websites and apps, analyze them for accessibility issues and suggest fixes.

“Building accessible code is the right thing to do, and it’s also good for business,” said M12 Global Head Nagraj Kashyap. “Evinced has a unique technology approach that will enable enterprise developers to weave accessibility into their software development process, and ultimately, engage more customers.”

Evinced said the Series A funds will be used to accelerate the launch of its services.

Image: Evinced