"google accessibility" - Google News - Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 1:37 PM
Be My Eyes Raises $2.8M in Funding for App to Support Blind and Visually
Impaired - InvisionMag
SAN FRANCISCO — Be My Eyes, the mobile app that allows anyone to assist
visually impaired people through live video calls, has raised $2.8 million in
funding. The investment allows the company to further develop its “purpose and
profit” business model while keeping the visual support service free and
unlimited for all visually impaired users, according to a press release.
The Series A round, led by Cultivation Capital, also welcomed new board members
Paul Weber (Cultivation Capital) and Michael Buckley (angel investor and former
vice president of global communications at Facebook). Be My Eyes has previously
been backed by angels and investment funding from the likes of Singularity
University, the founders of Zendesk and the LightHouse for the Blind and
Visually Impaired in San Francisco.
Be My Eyes solves a simple problem for users: It calls up a real person, on
demand, to describe what’s in front of a blind user’s camera. Initially
supported entirely by volunteers, Be My Eyes recently announced that it would
begin partnering with companies to provide expert-level support through a new
feature in the app (Specialized Help). Microsoft signed on as Be My Eyes’ first
video support partner in 2018, followed by Google, Lloyds Banking Group, and
Procter & Gamble, who now all provide video customer support to the BME
community, which spans more than 175 countries. Companies can provide
Specialized Help globally or by region, and support services are free to Be My
Eyes users.
“In call centers around the world, we’ve seen the Be My Eyes software greatly
reduce ticket handling times and increase satisfaction rates, from both support
agents and blind or low vision callers,” says Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, chief
commercial officer at Be My Eyes. “What’s more, each call that a company
receives brings attention to parts of the product or service that can be
designed more inclusively.”
Kyndra LoCoco, partner and programs manager at Google Accessibility, added,
“The Google Disability Support team is thrilled to be building a more
accessible support experience through the Be My Eyes app. It’s our hope that
others join us on this journey.”
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With a community of users that has doubled in size each year since 2015, Be My
Eyes’ “micro-volunteering” platform “has become beloved amongst blind and
sighted users alike,” according to the release.
“Fueled by inspiring stories and viral social media posts of strangers
connecting across oceans to help one another, the small startup has amassed
what amounts to the world’s largest global community of visually impaired
people (almost 200,000), and a volunteer community many times that size (more
than 3.5M).”
“Be My Eyes is a great example of how technology can help bring communities
together and empower people who are blind or with low vision,” says Neil
Barnett, director of inclusive hiring and accessibility at Microsoft. “By
working together with Be My Eyes, their incredible sighted volunteers, and the
growing community of organizations participating in the Specialized Help
program, we can help more people around the world live independent lives. We
are honored to be part of this vibrant community and provide support for all of
their customers through our Disability Answer Desk services.”
“As we grow and age, we all need help seeing at some point,” says Be My Eyes
CEO Christian Erfurt, who co-founded the company with a legally blind craftsman
named Hans Jørgen Wiberg in 2014. “It’s been a pleasure to see that not only do
people want to give their time to support this large population – but companies
want to make their customer service offerings more accessible. For them, we’ve
built a simple but beautiful tool.”
Erfurt says the corporate partnership business model was conceived so that Be
My Eyes will never have to charge blind users for the service. “We believe that
access to sight is a human right, and you don’t charge people for that.”
Watch a video about the service:
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https://invisionmag.com/be-my-eyes-raises-2-8m-in-funding-for-app-to-support-blind-and-visually-impaired/
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info
