Startups & companies

Companies built on work inclusion

Startups and companies whose business is getting disabled, neurodivergent and other excluded people into work — how they developed, what they measure, and where they struggled.

Four lenses for every profile

Impact

How many people from outside the labour market are in work, their share of staff, how long they stay, and whether they were unemployed before.

Commercial health

Revenue growth, profit or loss, equity, number of clients and who has invested.

Scale

Countries, headcount over time, and whether the company is still operating in the same form.

Honesty

Setbacks are part of the profile, and every figure says whether it is self-reported, from public accounts or from an independent source.

Profiles

ShrinkingFor-profit company

auticon

Germany · Founded 2011 · Website ↗

An IT consultancy where most consultants are autistic, working on client projects in software, data and testing.

Key figures

Employees: 494; 2025Self-reported[3]
Neurodivergent staff: 81%; 2025Self-reported[3]
Clients: 287; 2025Self-reported[3]
Countries: 15; 2025Self-reported[3]
Stay 2+ years: 79%; 2025Self-reported[3]
Stay 5+ years: 42%; 2025Self-reported[3]
Unemployed or underemployed before: 66%; 2025Self-reported[3]

Development

Founded in Berlin in 2011. In June 2023 it merged with Norway's Unicus: the combined company had 575 employees, 81% of them autistic, in 14 countries, and aimed for more than 600 employees by the end of 2023. Its investors include Ferd, Ananda Impact Ventures and the Autism Impact Fund.

Watch-outs

Headcount has fallen since the merger — 552 employees in 2024 and 494 in 2025 — and clients fell from 307 to 287. auticon has not published revenue figures since its 2023 target.

Sources (4)

auticon and Unicus join forces — auticon, 2023-06
auticon releases 2024 Impact Report — auticon, 2025-03
The Edge Effect: auticon Impact Report 2025 — auticon, 2026-04
About us — auticon, 2026-09

MergedFor-profit company

Unicus

Norway · Founded 2008 · Website ↗

A Norwegian IT consultancy that hires only consultants with an Asperger's diagnosis, for testing, development and data work.

Key figures

Revenue: NOK 29m; 2025Public accounts[2]
Pre-tax result: NOK 636k; 2025Public accounts[2]

Development

Founded in Oslo by Lars Johansson-Kjellerød. Ferd backed it with a small pilot grant and later invested; it expanded to Sweden (2017), Finland (2019), the Netherlands (2021) and Poland (2023) before merging into auticon in 2023. The Norwegian company's revenue grew from NOK 17.9m in 2021 to NOK 32.7m in 2024.

Watch-outs

In 2025 revenue fell to NOK 29.0m and pre-tax profit to NOK 0.6m.

Sources (4)

Fra utenforskap til global suksess: Unicus ansetter kun konsulenter med Asperger — ForUS, 2025-08
Unicus AS — regnskap — Proff, 2026
auticon and Unicus join forces — auticon, 2023-06
Creating a world-leading employer for people with autism — Ferd, 2023-06

ShrinkingSocial enterprise

Specialisterne

Denmark · Founded 2004 · Website ↗

A Danish pioneer that trains autistic and neurodivergent people and helps employers recruit and keep them.

Key figures

People helped into jobs: 10,000+; 2024Self-reported[1]
Employer partners: 500+; 2026Self-reported[2]
Neurodivergent staff: 70%; 2026Self-reported[2]
Countries: 11; 2026Self-reported[2]

Development

Founded in Denmark in 2004 by Thorkil Sonne as a social enterprise. At its 20th anniversary in 2024 it reported more than 600 employees, offices in 13 countries and more than 10,000 people helped into jobs. In 2026 it was named to the Forbes Accessibility 200 for the second year running.

Watch-outs

It is getting smaller: over 500 staff and offices in 11 countries in 2026, down from more than 600 and 13. Specialisterne Australia let its whole workforce go in November 2025.

Sources (3)

Specialisterne celebrates its 20th anniversary — Specialisterne, 2024-04
Specialisterne named to the Forbes Accessibility 200 — Specialisterne USA, 2026-05
Specialisterne Australia — Specialisterne, 2025-11

Loss-makingFor-profit company

Nyby

Norway · Founded 2015 · Website ↗

A Norwegian technology company whose platform helps municipalities and large organisations build task-based collaboration networks — looking at staffing shortages and exclusion from work together.

Key figures

Revenue: NOK 16.4m; 2025Public accounts[2]
Pre-tax result: -NOK 4.2m; 2025Public accounts[2]
Equity: -NOK 3.1m; 2025Public accounts[2]
Young people working (Oslo project): 20+; 2024Self-reported[1]

Development

Founded in 2015 by Fredrik Gulowsen and Kristina Tuhus, and has worked with more than 50 municipalities. In an Oslo project, young people with no work experience take paid tasks for elderly residents; Nyby reports more than 600 applications in two weeks and more than 20 young people working. Revenue grew from NOK 4.6m in 2021 to NOK 16.4m in 2025.

Watch-outs

Its public accounts show a loss every year from 2021 to 2025 and negative equity at the end of 2025, although a 2026 press report described the company as profitable. The founders name overly high expectations of technology on its own as one of their wrong turns. Work inclusion is one effect of the business, not all of it.

Sources (5)

Fra unge uten arbeidserfaring til viktige samfunnsressurser for eldre — Nyby, 2024-11
Nyby AS — regnskap — Proff, 2026
Gikk i flere blindveier før det løsnet — Shifter, 2026-03
Nyby — Nyby, 2026-10
Nyby AS — Enhetsregisteret — Brønnøysundregistrene, 2026-10

OperatingFor-profit company

Ultranauts

United States · Founded 2013 · Website ↗

A fully remote US software-testing and data-quality company where 75% of staff are neurodivergent, most of them autistic.

Key figures

Neurodivergent staff: 75%; 2024Self-reported[1]
Largest funding round: US$3.5m; 2019Independent source[2]

Development

Founded in 2013 by MIT graduates Rajesh Anandan and Art Shectman. In 2019 it raised a $3.5m Series A led by SustainVC and The Disability Opportunity Fund.

Watch-outs

The latest funding figures we could verify are from 2019, and the company doesn't publish headcount or revenue.

Sources (4)

Who is Ultranauts? — Ultranauts, 2024-04
Ultranauts raises $3.5M Series A — AlleyWatch, 2019-08
Ultranauts: a neurodiverse team building better software — MIT News, 2020-12
About Team-X — Ultranauts, 2026

OperatingFor-profit company

Mentra

United States · Website ↗

A US hiring platform that uses AI to match neurodivergent job seekers with employers.

Key figures

Largest funding round: US$3.5m; 2023Independent source[1]

Development

Led by founder and CEO Jhillika Kumar. It raised a $1m pre-seed round from Hydrazine Capital and a $3.5m seed round led by Shine Capital (2023). In March 2026 it launched Manatee, an AI career companion for neurodivergent job seekers.

Watch-outs

We found no recent, verifiable figures on how many people it has placed.

Sources (2)

Mentra aims to match neurodivergent jobseekers with jobs — HR Tech Feed, 2023-09
Mentra introduces Manatee — PR Newswire, 2026-03

OperatingFor-profit company

Inclusively

United States · Founded 2020 · Website ↗

US software that helps employers handle workplace accommodations for disabled employees.

Key figures

Largest funding round: US$13m; 2023Independent source[2]

Development

Founded in 2020 by Charlotte Dales and Sarah Bernard. It started as a job board, raised a $13m Series A led by Firework Ventures in November 2023, and shifted its focus to accommodation software.

Watch-outs

No funding or growth figures published since 2023.

Sources (2)

Inclusively works to diversify job recruitment — AmeriDisability, 2023-05
Inclusively raises $13M Series A — The AI Insider, 2023-11

OperatingNon-profit

Startup Refugees

Finland · Website ↗

A Finnish non-profit that helps refugees and migrants into work and entrepreneurship — work inclusion beyond disability.

Key figures

People helped into jobs: 2,500+; 2026Self-reported[1]

Development

It reports more than 2,500 people helped into jobs and won a European award for responsible and inclusive entrepreneurship in 2023.

Watch-outs

The placement figure is its own. It is funded by grants, foundations, companies and service sales rather than by investors.

Sources (2)

Startup Refugees — Startup Refugees, 2026-10
Our story — Startup Refugees, 2026

What didn't work

Inclusion businesses fail too. These two cases are as useful as the success stories.

Loss-makingSocial enterprise

Inclue

Norway · Website ↗

Inclue is a recruitment firm owned by the Norwegian Association of Disabled (Norges Handikapforbund) that places disabled people in ordinary jobs; profits go to the association.

Key figures

Revenue: NOK 1.5m; 2025Public accounts[2]
Pre-tax result: -NOK 173k; 2025Public accounts[2]

Development

Launched in 2022 with forecast operating profits of NOK 1.4m, 2.7m and 4m in its first three years.

Watch-outs

Instead it made a loss every year from 2022 to 2025, on revenue of about NOK 1.5m. The lesson: a recruitment service for employers needs volume and sales capacity before it can pay its way.

Sources (2)

Handikapforbundet satser i rekrutteringsbransjen — Handikapnytt, 2022-04
InClue AS — regnskap — Proff, 2026

ClosedState-owned company

Työkanava

Finland · Founded 2022

A Finnish state-owned company set up in 2022 to employ people with reduced work capacity.

Key figures

Employed (target was 400): 17; 2024Independent source[1]

Development

Its target was 400 employees, later lowered to 170.

Watch-outs

It employed 17 people when the government decided in April 2024 to close it. The lesson: a new vehicle without a working pipeline of employers and candidates did not scale.

Sources (2)

HS: Government to close company employing people with limited work capacity — Helsinki Times, 2024-04
Työkanava Oy:n lakkauttamisella ei ole suuria vaikutuksia Lahteen — City of Lahti, 2024-04

An employer? You can buy from these companies

Hiring an inclusion consultancy or using a matching platform is one of the fastest ways to start. The employer toolkit shows how to plan the first hires and adjustments.

Open the employer toolkit

Capital & instruments

How these companies are funded →

The investors, funds and public schemes that finance companies getting excluded people into work, the instruments they use, and how they measure success.