Tomás Vega—Augmental co-founder stated disability market 'not considered significant by most investors'
Tomás Vega, co-founder of Augmental, publicly stated that 'the biggest challenge is building a company for social good — it's challenging, because the market for solutions for people with disabilities is not considered significant by most investors.' He also noted that 'the idea of disabilities is not as flashy as B2B SaaS,' highlighting systemic bias in venture capital against disability-focused startups. Despite creating the MouthPad (tongue-controlled interface for people with paralysis), winning Forbes 30 Under 30, and recognition at CES 2024, Augmental raised only just over $1M since 2019 and had to develop other B2B products to fund their accessibility mission.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.572 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Tomás Vega stated disability market not considered significant by investors
In an MIT Media Lab interview, Augmental co-founder Tomás Vega stated that 'The biggest challenge is building a company for social good — it's challenging, because the market for solutions for people with disabilities is not considered significant by most investors.' He also noted that 'the idea of disabilities is not as flashy as B2B SaaS,' explaining why Augmental had to develop other products to fund the MouthPad.