Assistive tech startup ReBokeh is growing with new TEDCO funding and a first hire

ReBokeh is making moves.

The Baltimore-based assistive technology company dedicated to aiding individuals with moderate low vision recently secured a $200,000 investment from TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds. These funds are designed to engage and invest in underserved founders and communities.

The recent infusion of cash into ReBokeh — named one of Baltimore’s fastest-rising tech companies this year — holds the potential to further the company’s financial position, but also enhance the prospects of securing subsequent funding opportunities, a goal of TEDCO’s impact funding.

“The world isn’t always created with accessibility in mind, that’s one reason why Rebecca’s innovative thinking is important,” said Jean-Luc Park, senior director of TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds, in a written statement. “We are pleased to invest in this innovative thinking, supporting the next generation of entrepreneurial spirits looking to solve everyday issues.”

Headquartered in Towson, ReBokeh was founded by Rebecca Rosenberg, who personally experiences the limitations of conventional assistive technology, to address the shortcomings of existing low-vision solutions.

“The funding came a little while back. So it was actually a large part of the reason we were actually able to hire Evan [Bonfield], who’s our new head of business development,” Rosenberg told Technical.ly. “And we’re excited to also be using it toward a lot of our efforts around AI and around bringing on these new pilot partners and hopefully, you know, not only bringing ReBokeh to their spaces, but also, you know, at this early stage, bringing some accessibility-related events to those pilot partner businesses.”

Alongside its first full-time hire, the company also launched an enhanced version of its app this year and established a collaboration with Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center to develop a community platform for individuals with vision impairment, called Low Vision Connect. Technical.ly will be following the company for more news on these AI efforts and pilot partners as they’re announced.

The founder also recently penned an op-ed detailing her personal struggle, wherein she underscored the prevalent issue of accessibility being an afterthought for major tech companies.

“For more than a decade, accessibility has been an afterthought for big tech,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post sharing the op-ed. “People with a disability, like me, have been routinely stuck on the outside — forced to make do with hardware and operating systems that were largely inaccessible, or wait years for accessibility features to be bolted on. But that finally appears to be changing.”