Stark
Stark is a New York-based SaaS platform that provides end-to-end digital accessibility tooling across design (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), code (GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD), and live products, with an AI-powered assistant, serving 50,000+ companies and targeting designers, developers, product managers, and compliance leaders.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Stark does
Stark Lab, Inc., operating as Stark, is a New York-based SaaS company that provides an integrated digital accessibility platform spanning design, code, and live product environments. The platform is delivered through native plugins for Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD; browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Arc, and Brave; the cross-platform Stark Web App for team and enterprise management; and integrations with GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab, and CI/CD frameworks (Cypress, Playwright, Puppeteer). At its core, Stark runs a proprietary WCAG scanning engine covering 160+ rules (56% of WCAG AA criteria, representing 90%+ of real-world accessibility issues) and the AI-powered Sidekick assistant, which uses licensed third-party models to generate alt-text, contrast, and typography suggestions in five languages.
Stark serves four primary personas: designers using design-tool plugins, developers using code repository and CI/CD integrations, product managers monitoring real-time accessibility status, and compliance managers governing company-wide posture via the Compliance Center built on the proprietary Stark Universal Accessibility Framework (SUAF), which maps 31 controls across 8 dimensions to WCAG, Section 508, and the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The company reports 50,000+ companies and 100,000+ users on the Figma Community plugin. The product is offered on a freemium-to-enterprise pricing ladder (Free, Premium, Business, Enterprise), with a product-led growth motion supplemented by direct enterprise sales and is supported by SOC 2 Type 2 certification, GDPR compliance, and a zero-trust security architecture. Stark was founded in 2017, is incorporated in Delaware, and has raised approximately $8M in total disclosed funding across a 2020 round and a $6M August 2022 seed led by Uncork Capital with participation from Kleiner Perkins and others. Leadership comprises co-founder and CEO Cat Noone and co-founder and CTO Michael Fouquet.
Stark firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Stark
- Legal name
- Stark Lab, Inc.
- Website
- https://getstark.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Stark is a New York-based SaaS platform that provides end-to-end digital accessibility tooling across design (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), code (GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD), and live products, with an AI-powered assistant, serving 50,000+ companies and targeting designers, developers, product managers, and compliance leaders.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Stark industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Accessibility Compliance Software
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Accessible Content & Document Remediation Tools (EPUB/PDF/Video Accessibility, Alt-Text, WCAG Workflows) (EDAFAKAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Accessibility & Inclusive Design Tooling for Authoring (WCAG/508) (EDAFAHAL)
Keywords
Where Stark is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Stark business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription: Subscription-based SaaS model with tiered plans (Free, Premium, Business, Enterprise). Paid plans are subscription-based with monthly or annual billing. The platform generates recurring revenue from team/enterprise subscriptions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier with manual accessibility tools |
| Subscription | Monthly | Premium tier |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business tier for teams |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise tier for large organizations |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels7 records
Stark product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Stark is a SaaS platform providing end-to-end digital accessibility tools that integrate directly into design tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), web browsers, and code repositories (GitHub, Azure DevOps). It offers AI-powered automated scanning, real-time accessibility issue detection, and a compliance center for managing regulatory posture across WCAG, Section 508, and the European Accessibility Act.
Product overview
Stark is a suite of integrated digital accessibility tools that provides end-to-end coverage from design and code to live product. The core offering consists of the Stark Suite with browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Arc, Brave), native plugins for design tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), and the cross-platform Stark Web App. Key modules include Sidekick (AI-powered accessibility assistant), WCAG Audit tool, and the Compliance Center built on the Stark Universal Accessibility Framework (SUAF). The platform enables 50,000+ companies to continuously monitor and remediate accessibility issues across the entire software product lifecycle.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Sidekick: AI-powered accessibility assistant integrated into Figma and Sketch that automatically scans design files for accessibility issues and provides fix suggestions.
- SUAF (Stark Universal Accessibility Framework)
Products and services
- Stark Suite Integrated suite of digital accessibility tools covering the full software product lifecycle, trusted by 50,000+ companies. Combines plugins, browser extensions, web app, and code repository integrations to detect, remediate, and govern accessibility issues.
- Stark for Figma Native Figma plugin providing accessibility tools within the Figma design workflow, including contrast checking, typography analysis, alt-text generation, touch targets, focus order, landmarks, vision simulator, and design annotations. Used by product designers and design teams building accessible interfaces.
- Stark for Sketch Native Sketch plugin for macOS providing accessibility checking tools and AI-powered suggestions within the Sketch design workflow, targeting designers using Sketch.
- Stark for Adobe XD Native Adobe XD plugin providing accessibility checking within the Adobe XD design workflow, available on Adobe Exchange.
- Stark Browser Extension Browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Arc, and Brave providing WCAG audit scanning, live URL scanning, and accessibility checking for any website or web application. Runs locally in the browser under a zero-trust model.
- Stark Web App Cross-platform web application for managing accessibility across teams. Provides Projects, Reports, Insights, and Compliance Center for real-time monitoring of design files, code repositories, and live URLs, with team collaboration and enterprise admin features.
- Stark for GitHub GitHub integration enabling continuous scanning of code repositories for accessibility issues with real-time WCAG compliance reports within Stark projects, supporting unified design and code accessibility tracking.
- Stark for Slack Slack integration delivering Stark project updates directly to Slack channels, allowing users to query project and asset status and subscribe to automatic notifications.
- Trust Center Security and compliance documentation portal providing enterprise customers with access to SOC 2 Type 2 reports, security documentation, and Stark's privacy program information.
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduces 56% of accessibility issues that typically make it into code where remediation costs up to 100x higher
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Stark
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Stark technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration25 records
AI capability9 records
Feature8 records
Stark partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- FigmacoreStark provides a Figma plugin for accessibility checking directly within Figma. Available on Figma Community. Includes AI-powered Sidekick, color contrast checking, and design annotations.
- SketchcoreStark provides a Sketch plugin for macOS users with accessibility checking tools.
- Adobe XDcoreStark provides a plugin for Adobe XD available on Adobe Exchange.
- GitHubcoreStark integrates with GitHub for continuous scanning of code repositories within Stark projects. Enables unified accessibility tracking across design and code.
- Azure DevOpscoreStark integrates with Azure DevOps for continuous accessibility scans in repositories. Available as a Visual Studio extension.
- JiracoreStark integrates with Jira for creating tickets for accessibility issues directly from the platform.
- AsanacoreStark integrates with Asana for creating tasks for accessibility issues.
- LinearcoreStark integrates with Linear for issue tracking and accessibility ticket creation.
- CypresscoreStark integrates into Cypress CI/CD pipelines for end-to-end accessibility testing (private beta for enterprise).
- PlaywrightcoreStark integrates into Playwright CI/CD pipelines for accessibility testing (private beta for enterprise).
- PuppeteercoreStark integrates into Puppeteer CI/CD pipelines for accessibility testing (private beta for enterprise).
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Stark competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- AudioEye: AudioEye is a publicly traded digital accessibility company offering auditing, monitoring, and remediation. It is comparable to Stark on live-site continuous monitoring but lacks the design and code integration breadth.
- Deque Systems: Deque is the most established accessibility testing company and creator of the open-source axe-core engine. It competes directly with Stark across WCAG auditing, developer tooling, and enterprise accessibility programs, but lacks Stark's deep design-tool plugin presence.
- Level Access: Level Access is an enterprise-focused digital accessibility platform offering auditing, training, and remediation tooling. It competes with Stark's Compliance Center / SUAF offering for large regulated buyers, though it has less of a design-led PLG motion.
- AccessiBe: AccessiBe sells an AI-powered website accessibility overlay and audit platform to SMB and mid-market customers. It overlaps with Stark's AI Sidekick and WCAG audit value proposition for live websites, though it targets the live-site layer rather than design or code.
- UserWay: UserWay provides AI-powered accessibility widgets, audits, and remediation services. It competes with Stark on the SMB/mid-market live-website accessibility layer, but with less depth in design-tool integrations.
Emerging players
- Evinced: Evinced focuses on developer-grade accessibility testing for web and mobile apps, integrating into CI/CD pipelines. It is closely comparable to Stark's developer platform expansion (Cypress/Playwright/Puppeteer) but with deeper enterprise testing tooling.
- Monsido: Monsido offers a web accessibility scanning and monitoring platform with governance and reporting features for mid-market. It competes with Stark's live URL scanning and Compliance Center offerings for similar buyer profiles.
Broad incumbents
- Siteimprove: Siteimprove is a broader digital quality and governance platform that includes accessibility alongside SEO, content quality, and analytics. It overlaps with Stark on enterprise accessibility monitoring but addresses a wider buyer than Stark's design/developer-led motion.
- Figma (native accessibility features): Figma itself is Stark's primary distribution platform and biggest platform risk. As Figma ships more native accessibility capabilities and AI features, it could compress the differentiation of Stark's Figma plugin over time.
Others
- axe-core (open source): axe-core is the most widely adopted open-source accessibility testing engine, embedded across many CI/CD and testing tools. It represents the baseline against which Stark's proprietary WCAG scanning engine and Sidekick must justify a premium price.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Stark social profiles
Digital presenceStark compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Stark financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Stark leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Stark funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Stark M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Stark
What does Stark do?
Stark is a SaaS platform providing end-to-end digital accessibility tools that integrate directly into design tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), web browsers, and code repositories (GitHub, Azure DevOps). It offers AI-powered automated scanning, real-time accessibility issue detection, and a compliance center for managing regulatory posture across WCAG, Section 508, and the European Accessibility Act.
Is Stark a public or private company?
Stark is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Stark founded?
Stark was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Stark based?
Stark is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Stark make money?
One revenue line is on record: saaS Subscription.
Who are Stark's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are AudioEye, Deque Systems, Level Access, AccessiBe and UserWay. Emerging players are Evinced and Monsido. Broad incumbents are Siteimprove and Figma (native accessibility features). axe-core (open source) is listed as an others.
Does Stark have an API?
No public API is recorded for Stark.
What industry is Stark in?
Stark's product category is Digital Accessibility Compliance Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAKAE, Accessible Content & Document Remediation Tools (EPUB/PDF/Video Accessibility, Alt-Text, WCAG Workflows), with a secondary code of EDAFAHAL, Accessibility & Inclusive Design Tooling for Authoring (WCAG/508). Its NAICS code is 54151 and its SIC code is 7372.