It was ‘only’ four steps in a stairway that made Balázs Berecz realise the need for a solution that can change and improve the daily life of approximately 1,3 billion people with disabilities. This is how the access4you® Certification Mark was born, providing detailed and reliable accessibility information about the built environment for individuals across the nine affected groups, completely free of charge and available at any time. According to Dénes Szluha – Head of Startup Division at Hiventures -, startups offering services and solutions regarding the ESG framework are gaining prominence and capturing the attention of more and more people. That is one of the reasons why he believes that Access4you’s mission has great potential, and both parties claimed that member of the Hungarian Development Bank VC Hiventures’ investment of 365 million HUF will be a major contribution to the social impact organisation’s aspiration towards international expansion.
An interview.
Napi.hu: Let’s talk about accessibility. What exactly do we mean by that? Why is information about accessibility important?
Berecz Balázs (Access4you): I often mention a personal story which not only demonstrates the matter perfectly, but has led to the foundation of Access4you. As we have been planning a trip abroad, we were closely corresponding with our accommodation provider for weeks. We received photos, and exact dimensions of the place, checking all details so that we knew the accommodation was truly suitable for us. At least that was what we thought. Unfortunately, when we arrived from the airport at midnight, we were absolutely shocked to see that there were four huge stairsteps standing between us and the entrance of the building. Of course, we questioned our host…
Napi.hu: What happened?
Berecz Balázs: We may have phrased this question a bit harsher. It was truly a horrible situation – we couldn’t understand why the host never informed us, and we had no idea how we could find another accessible place to stay in the middle of the night. The main problem was not with the attitude of the host, he offered to carry me up those stairs himself. This awkward situation came to be due to our misunderstanding of what accessibility means – the inside of the building would have been completely suitable for our needs. That was when I understood that the willingness to help itself is not enough. Humanity is exploring whether Mars is habitable, but when I go to Lisbon, or a deaf person wants to go to a corner shop, we cannot access any of the services. All this happened in 2019, since then, we refer to this story as the ‘Lisbon story’. Then and there, I have decided to create a system which would allow us to talk about accessibility in a common language everybody understands.
Napi.hu: What is the product, and what service does Access4you offer?
Berecz Balázs: Access4you® is an international certification mark. At the moment, it is registered in the European Union and in the United Kingdom, and we are preparing the registration process in India as well. The certification mark offers accessibility information of the built environment in two ways:
– First of all, we help people with disabilities through providing detailed and reliable information about the accessibility of a given location both on our website and mobile application free of charge. We offer comprehensive data across nine target groups, considering areas of mobility, vision, hearing, and cognitive impairments – be it the elderly, people who have disabilities, or a mother pushing a pram.
– Second of all, we can present valuable data about the accessibility of a building to its owner as well. Property owners will know the extent of their real estate’s accessibility capabilities, and will receive suggestions on how to improve the current state.
One of our greatest advantages against competitors is that we provide the full picture when certifying a real estate. This means that we include information about the non-accessible aspects of a location too – being a wheelchair user for 15 years, I know in my own experience that such information can be more helpful than the traditional orientations.
Napi.hu: Access4you is receiving the sum of 365 million HUF capital from Hiventures. How did you decide on this investment?
Dénes Szluha (Hiventures): Investments are the products of a rather lengthy process, in which the first step is getting to know the possible partner. First, we look at the founders of the organisation, then we assess the given industry, and after that we examine financial performance indicators. In this case, the founders – Balázs Berecz and Tamás Méri – have been working together for a long time, with a successful business behind them. The ESG approach is gaining momentum for a while among investors, and from regulatory and market point of view. I think that the qualification of buildings and the creation of a real estate database is becoming popular too. Statistics have shown that we can expect a great return on investment. What is more, the solution of Access4you is not only an innovation on the market, but it helps a wide range of people, which is an additional value that the world of numbers cannot ignore either.
Napi.hu: What are the elements that make such socially responsible organisations stay resilient?
Dénes Szluha: The majority of people are truly involved with the topic of whether we should divide the great three areas – society, economy, and environment – for the sake of sustainable growth. Many read, hear and even join arguments about this topic. As investors, we approach these questions through investing patient capital in organisations with a mission to support this sustainability. Our professionals are always delighted to negotiate with companies that have decent financial results and make a powerful impact on society or the environment with their services at the same time. We are on the lookout for teams that can perfectly balance on a knife edge – having a big heart is not enough, they must be experts of business as well. I am proud to say that there are almost thirty startups that fit these characteristics in our portfolio, such as Respray, Platio, Greenstic, and from now on – to our greatest joy – Access4you.
Balázs Berecz: We need to look at corporate sustainability with a practical approach. When we started this project there were several existing solutions on the market, but only a few of those had a long-term – that is, sustainable from economic and business point of view – thinking in mind. But why is that? The reason behind this is that there are many civil and non-profit organisations made up of volunteers who put in an incredible effort but rely only on ‘one percent tax support’ (as per the Hungarian 1% Law, taxpayers are allowed to donate 1% of their previous year’s paid Hungarian personal income taxes to support the activities of one non-profit organisation without any loss to their income). Since they have no continuous income, facing challenging periods when they do not receive enough resources can become an exhausting fight for employees. We are in a privileged situation where our revenue comes from capital intensive clients on the market. This allows us to provide free access to our database for our end-users (B2C facing side).
Napi.hu: According to your motto, you ‘bring measurable S into ESG’. What do you mean by that?
Berecz Balázs: When talking about ESG, Access4you is closely related to the social sustainability aspect. This abstract phrase brings about tough challenges for organisations precisely because this element is perhaps the hardest to measure out of the ESG components. In contrast, Access4you’s system is heavily data-driven, and it is completely capable of turning factual information into numbers: during the audit of a building, we assess more than a thousand aspects and each of these features can be converted into exact and measurable data. Our qualification system puts all assessed locations into four categories, referring to the four different ratings – Certified location, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The more groups of people with disabilities can access the building, the higher the rating. The list of minimum requirements varies based on building types since their functions vary as well. Naturally, an office building and a coffee shop would need to meet different functional requirements.
Napi.hu: When a startup operating in the ESG sector wins initial attention in the target market, how can they achieve that on an international level as well?
Dénes Szluha: In our experience, management, sales, and marketing strategies that work on the national market usually need to be reconsidered when entering the international landscape. This is the result of the Hungarian market being quite small and peculiar, yet offering an excellent environment for development and growth. Nonetheless, scaling up successfully takes a global mindset and knowledge of the international market, and these two factors are highly dependent on the approach of the leadership team. We love working with startups for this very reason, since they have the ability to adapt very quickly and effectively to a hectic environment. This is something that we need when entering a new market.
Balázs Berecz: We can already see that Access4you is making significant progress in Central Europe, being present in the Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Romanian and Croatian market. The value proposition we offer to partners is quite strong, because apart from complying with market trends mentioned by Dénes, we can provide real value. Establishing an elaborate partner network allows us to enter the international scene with confidence, therefore we are very proud of our partnership agreement with Colliers and Bureau Veritas. While our accredited partners seek new opportunities and prospects with their expertise in a given regional market, we provide the know-how and the software.
Napi.hu: What is the global market size?
Balázs Berecz: Fifteen percent of the world’s population has some type of disability, this means that every sixth person is affected in a certain degree when it comes to mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive abilities. When I first learned about these statistics, I thought to myself ‘bullshit’, this cannot be true. But after we started to look deeper into the topic, we found comprehensive studies – all of which were absolutely aha moments.
Napi.hu: Will the sum you receive be enough to cover that amount of demand?
Balázs Berecz: At the beginning our funds consisted mostly of personal investment and one bank loan. Although we have a steady revenue flow today, this latest investment unlocks whole new chapters to the story. With the help of the capital, we can plan, extend our team, develop and grow, while dedicating the other half of the resource to sales and marketing initiatives. Will it be enough? I think it will not only take us one step further but help us achieve even higher levels. Considering that our target markets include countries such as India and the US, we are likely to need a second wave of investment later on. As for now, we need to focus on the present opportunities so that we can clearly see the value of our service and how it performs on an international level.
Napi.hu: What are the cornerstones of your agreement? At which point will you be satisfied with the results?
Dénes Szluha: Seeing a significant increase in the already high value of this company would be our greatest joy. Let’s not think in numbers when talking about this value just yet – it could mean recognition, usability, knowledge that cannot be easily replicated and offers way more than other frameworks. We know very well from experience that all of these characteristics have the ability to manifest the expected financial results a venture capital investor has calculated.
Balázs Berecz: I feel optimistic about the future, as the negotiation phase has already brought us new learnings, opportunities and unlocked new markets. What is more, we were focusing on developing our internal processes – not twiddling our thumbs, expecting success to come by itself. This investment from Hiventures serves a great cause. We shouldn’t forget that our enterprise was created to provide reliable information that assists the social integration of people who have to face barriers because of the built environment in their daily lives.
Find the link to the original article below!
https://www.napi.hu/gazdasag/akadalymentesseg-magyar-startup-access4you-hiventures.774781.html
Original author: Gábor Károly
Photo: Dávid Szarka
Translator: Dóra Pusztai
The Hungarian interview was sponsored by Hiventures Venture Capital Fund Management Zrt.
Access4you is a social impact company: we assess and qualify buildings to provide detailed, credible accessibility information about the built environment for people with disabilities. Based on the results, we issue a certificate stating that the location is entitled to use the ‘access4you’ international certification mark, and the detailed data of the site will be publicly available in the access4you.io database and mobile application. For more information: https://access4you.io/b2b
