YAKUB ABDULRASHEED – Nigerian technology startup Adaptive Atelier is building an accessibility infrastructure designed to help businesses identify, fix and validate barriers preventing people with disabilities from fully using digital products, as demand for inclusive technology grows across global markets.
Founded in 2024 by Toyosi Badejo-Okusanya, and headquartered between Lagos and London, the startup combines artificial intelligence, accessibility technology and the lived experiences of disabled professionals through three connected products.
Its founder says the company is addressing a critical gap between businesses understanding the importance of accessibility and having the tools to implement it effectively.
“The gap we identified is the distance between knowing accessibility matters and actually having the infrastructure to identify, fix, and validate it,” Badejo-Okusanya disclosed.
The company is now expanding its customer relationships while raising US$250,000 to accelerate technical hiring and go-to-market execution.
What to know about Adaptive Atelier
Adaptive Atelier is positioning itself as a technology infrastructure company for digital accessibility rather than simply another website-testing service.
Founded in 2024, the Nigerian startup operates across Lagos and London and has developed three connected products designed to address different stages of the accessibility process.
AdaptiveTest uses artificial intelligence to examine websites and digital products against WCAG accessibility standards and identify potential barriers.
AdaptiveWiz provides an accessibility API, including live integrations with Shopify and WordPress, to help users personalise and navigate digital experiences.
AdaptiveAlly completes the process by connecting businesses with vetted disabled professionals who can test whether accessibility improvements work in real-world situations.
The founder describes the relationship between the products simply as:
“AdaptiveTest identifies the problem, AdaptiveWiz helps fix the experience, and AdaptiveAlly validates whether the fix actually holds up for a real disabled user.”
The problem that Adaptive Atelier is trying to solve
At the heart of Adaptive Atelier’s business is a problem that extends beyond whether a website technically meets an accessibility checklist. Many organisations understand that digital accessibility is important, but translating that awareness into effective action can be difficult.
Existing solutions are often divided between automated scanners, accessibility overlays, specialist consultancies and general user-testing platforms.
According to Badejo-Okusanya, automated tools can be fast to deploy but may not identify every real-world barrier, while traditional consultancies can provide expertise without necessarily offering proprietary technology.
Generic testing platforms, meanwhile, are not necessarily designed around disabled users. Adaptive Atelier is attempting to bridge these gaps by combining automated detection and remediation with human validation.
“We sit at the intersection of these categories,” she said, combining “AI-driven detection and remediation with structured, paid validation from disabled professionals.”
How the three-product model works
The startup’s approach is built around a continuous cycle of discovery, remediation and validation. A business can begin with AdaptiveTest to examine its digital product and identify accessibility problems.
The organisation can then use AdaptiveWiz as an ongoing technology layer to help improve the experience, before turning to AdaptiveAlly to have disabled professionals test whether those changes work in practice.
This model is intended to prevent businesses from treating accessibility as a one-time technical exercise. Instead, it creates a feedback loop in which digital products can be tested, improved and tested again.
The company says its community of more than 13,000 disabled professionals and advocates gives AdaptiveAlly a substantial pool of potential testers.
Its website also attracts about 50,000 organic visits each month, while customer discovery has extended across the UK, Nigeria, Canada, Germany, Morocco and the US.
Customers, business model and expansion plans
Adaptive Atelier has begun securing paying customers across sectors including cinemas, government institutions and retail platforms, while maintaining active relationships with organisations such as L’Oréal, SignHealth, Channel 4 and Phonak.
Its commercial model combines subscriptions for AdaptiveWiz, scoped audits through AdaptiveTest and commissions from transactions on the AdaptiveAlly marketplace.
The company says a customer may initially engage through an accessibility audit before moving to ongoing remediation and human validation.
“A business often enters through an AdaptiveTest audit, which surfaces the case for AdaptiveWiz as an ongoing fix, and AdaptiveAlly as the validation layer that proves it’s working,” Badejo-Okusanya said.
Rather than immediately pursuing maximum customer volume, the startup is concentrating on proving that this pathway can repeatedly turn initial engagements into long-term customers before scaling more aggressively.
From Nigerian roots to a global accessibility market
Nigeria remains Adaptive Atelier’s home market, but the startup is developing relationships in the UK, European Union and United States, where accessibility regulations are increasing pressure on organisations to address digital inclusion.
The company is now seeking US$250,000 in institutional funding, with plans to invest in technical hiring and go-to-market execution. Its journey has included setbacks, including delays in product delivery that led to changes in its technical roadmap and team.
Badejo-Okusanya said the experience strengthened the company’s approach to product testing:
“We now treat rigorous internal testing before external claims as non-negotiable.”
Beyond technology, the startup faces the challenge of educating businesses that continue to view accessibility primarily as a compliance expense.
Its next phase will therefore require balancing market expansion with focus, as the founder puts it, “rather than spreading a small team across two very different buyer types at once.”
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