Talent Acquisition Platform make spaceBeta Boom, founded in 2023 by renowned disability rights activist Kelly Kat Wells, today announced that it has closed a $2 million seed funding round led by Beta Boom.
The startup seeks to help companies across industries hire, train and retain talent with disabilities. Prospective employees can sign up for free to search for job openings, while employees on the company’s side can find qualified candidates for positions, as well as access educational resources to better support and collaborate with workers with disabilities.
Kat Wells said she started the platform because traditional hiring processes are exclusionary, inaccessible and often overlook skilled and talented people with disabilities. She noted that many people are afraid to disclose their disability at work for fear of discrimination, which prevents them from getting the right accommodations.
A 2018 study by Accenture and the American Association of People with Disabilities I found that companies Companies that employ and support people with disabilities in their workforce generate 28% higher revenue than those that don’t. They also enjoy higher profit margins. The study also found that the U.S. GDP could increase by at least $25 billion if more people with disabilities were given the opportunity to join the workforce. However, studies have shown that 100,000 people in the U.S. could join the workforce. I showed People with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed, and even less likely to graduate from college compared to individuals without disabilities.
“I saw an opportunity to build new pathways to employment that could provide equal benefit to both employers and workers with disabilities,” she said, adding that societal constraints can lead workers with disabilities to define their goals and dreams as less than they can achieve. “We are passionate about engaging people with disabilities in real work, creating career paths rather than just jobs.”
Additionally, employees with disabilities often have higher retention rates and performance ratings than non-disabled employees, which helps reduce turnover rates, according to Job Opportunity Network.
Finding the right investors for the platform has been difficult, she said. Despite the appeal and technology, Kat Wells said many investors are skeptical that a disability-focused company can be a high-growth business success, which is what venture capitalists ultimately look for. “A lot of people still view disability through the lens of charity and nonprofits,” she said.
“The disabled population represents a huge economic opportunity, and many people don’t think that anyone can become disabled at any point in time,” said Kat Wells. “When we build solutions that integrate impact into core business strategy, rather than treating it as an easily disposable initiative, we can begin to create systemic change.”
She says one potential investor flat-out refused to back a company led not only by a woman but also by a person with a disability. “We love what you’re building, but we won’t consider investing unless you bring on a non-disabled co-founder,” she recalls.
She said the comment just reminded her of why she created Making Space. “It’s also a reminder of the deep-rooted biases and systemic barriers within projects,” she said. “It shows how pervasive disability discrimination and sexism are.”
Kat Wells ended up meeting her lead investor, Beta Boom, through another seed investor. Speaking to TechCrunch, Beta Boom founders Kimi and Sergio Paluch described Making Space as a “one-of-a-kind business.”
“It addresses the skills and confidence barriers faced by both disabled workers and employers,” they told TechCrunch.
This Making Space platform is part of Cat-Wells’ growing Making Space empire. The company also has a media arm, co-founded by disability activist Sophie Morgan, which has already partnered with the likes of Netflix And NBC Universal To promote employment opportunities for disabled talent in front of and behind the camera. Already, Making Space is responsible for helping Netflix build a pipeline of disabled graphic design talent, as well as hiring NBCU’s first disabled hosts for the Paralympics. It also signed an unscripted deal with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. to tell stories Of those living with disabilities.
Kat Wells says the company hopes to expand what Making Space can offer people. The company has already created a tool called Compass, which scans user profiles to identify any disability as a skill. The tool is currently in beta but will be launched in a few months, she said.
At just 28 years old, Kat Wells has become a founder for the second time, after Created and sold An entertainment talent agency that represents and places artists with disabilities at companies like Disney and Nike. She started the agency after she faced discrimination herself as a teenager when her gastric stoma bag was exposed during an acting audition and the role she was subsequently offered was canceled.
“It wasn’t until that moment that I started to identify as a disabled person,” she said. “I also realized that what I went through wasn’t an isolated case, and that discrimination against me as a disabled person in the hiring process and at work is unfortunately normal. I want to change that.”
Since then, she has become an award-winning force in the field—advocating for disability rights at the White House, serving on boards, and participating as an expert in disability rights discussions with the likes of Kamala Harris and Prince Harry. Next up, Making Space has some Fortune 500 partnerships to announce soon. She’s also looking to expand her work into K-12 schools and spark more conversations about disability rights and opportunities.
“We want to change the statistics that show that people with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed as people without disabilities,” she said.