20 Startups to Watch: Entrepreneurs Innovating around Disability

One in three disabled people see entrepreneurship as a career path that’s inaccessible to them. Our goal with Tech Nation’s Creo programme is to change that. Check out the 20 Creo Startups to Watch, who are moving the needle on disabled entrepreneurship and founders innovating around disability.

Through Tech Nation’s Creo Programme, delivered in partnership with the Motability Foundation, we offer the UK’s first springboard platform for disabled founders, neurodiverse founders, and entrepreneurs innovating around disability, connecting founders and providing them with the knowledge and resources to grow.

Since launching Creo last year, we’ve witnessed the rapid growth of inspirational founder-led businesses innovating in industries ranging from AI and VR to mobility and health tech. By spotlighting the trailblazing startups in this booklet, our goal is to champion disabled entrepreneurs and innovators, providing them with access to the networks, support systems, and funding to scale.

In our 20 Startups to Watch, we’re showcasing companies like Ali Jawad’s Accessercise, the first fitness app for people with impairments. It has just raised a £600k pre-Seed and is used by thousands across the UK, US, Europe, and Brazil. Kavya Jain’s Sensei transforms walls into navigation tools for the visually impaired – she started it as a final year university project and it’s now backed by Santander, Design Museum, and MSDUK. Similarly, Solomia Boretska’s Lendocare, which makes mobility equipment hire easy, is now recognised as part of the EIT’s Better Mobility Accelerator. These are just a few examples of the trailblazing work our Creo founders are doing.

Despite their huge success, the facts remain: one in four founders in the UK are disabled or neurodiverse, but they are 400x less likely to receive VC funding.

Programmes like Creo work to amplify the voices of these founders, ensuring their lived experiences are heard at every level. We want to create a more inclusive future, and to do this we must ensure disabled people are able to access opportunities to succeed and thrive, including championing a truly inspiring group of disabled founders and entrepreneurs.

The solutions being created through this programme will help to empower disabled and neurodivergent communities – check some of them out here.

Click here to download the report.

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