Handiscover receives new Equity funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund.

[16 June 2021]

Handiscover Sweden AB has now raised a further €1.65M funding from the EU’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and exisiting investors. The latest round of funding complements its 1,6M€ grant secured last year from the EIC, allowing it to expand beyond its initial offering as an Online Travel Agent.

The EIC Fund is an investment vehicle set up by the EU looking to provide equity funding to the companies selected for EIC Accelerator blended finance support (grant and equity). Handiscover qualified for the blended funding in June 2020.

Handiscover has been awarded the new round of equity based funding due to its ambitious growth strategy, pivoting last year from solely an Online Travel Agent, to a B2B offering with a SaaS model. The Swedish based company says it will use the funds to rapidly expand it’s Accessibility Management Program beyond Sweden, helping it to continue to lead the industry in building unique global accessibility and disability data.

Businesses in many areas, not just Travel and Hospitality, who wish to improve accessibility can enroll in Handiscover’s ‘Accessibility Management Program’. It includes a cloud based accessibility data management and assessment system, marketing tools to help customers communicate accessibility to consumers, and Accessibility & Disability Education for staff to help them better meet disabled consumers.This will be key for business keen on in a post COVID world.

Sebastien Archambeaud, CEO Handiscover says:

"Securing this further funding is testament to the unique offering that Handiscover continues to present to the market and the quality of its team.

“The global COVID-19 pandemic meant that we had to very quickly pivot to accelerate the development of our new B2B offering. Consequently, our Accessibility Management Program has already seen nice first signs of its potential and the funding will now help us accelerate this. 

“Handiscover is in a rare position of being a Travel Startup that is growing, and is now extremely confident and proud that we can continue to expand our business reach across Europe and beyond.”

Handiscover has also already developed and released numerous industry leading ‘Accessibility Standards’ which it provides free of charge to help businesses start working on improving their accessibility. The new B2B offering from Handiscover has already had significant success in Sweden, and now looks to take the program to market across Europe and Worldwide.

Nicklas Bergman, member of EIC Fund Investment Committee, said: “The EIC fund equity financing will help the first Community-based Holiday Accommodation to scale up. This financial round will support the acceleration of Handiscover B2B strategy that helps people with a disability to identify accessible accommodation that suits their specific needs.”

As the Travel Market recovers, Handiscover also looks forward to further expanding its accessible accommodation marketplace on its journey towards internationalisation.

- Ends - 

Notes to Editors:

About Handiscover

Founded in 2015, Handiscover is building the global leader in Accessibility and disability data, with an aim to enable the world for people with disabilities. Handiscover started as an online community and accommodation booking website for people with limited mobility, but is now adding Accessibility Management for a business market in the hospitality industry and others, combining an Accessibility Certification and Education program. At the core lies a unique Accessibility standard and questionnaires, that helps gather unique granular data about accessibility, that can be verified with Handiscovers QA team.

In addition to the EIC Fund and the EIB, Handiscover is funded by several private investors including HOWZAT Partners, Almi Invest and Tranquility Capita.

For more details, please visit www.handiscover.com.

For further information on Handiscover Accessibility Management Program, visit: accessibility.handiscover.com.

About the EIC Fund:

Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between €500.000 and €15 million) in European high impact and deep tech start-ups and scale ups. The EIC Fund provides patient capital and invests in companies from any sector, across all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon 2020.

The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is not to maximise financial investment returns, but to have a high impact by accompanying companies with and disruptive technologies in their growth. Its objective is to crowd in market players, further sharing risks by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow on funding.

The Fund pays particular attention to empower and support female founders as well as contributing to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.