Hope Tech

What Hope Tech does

Hope Tech Plus Limited is a privately held assistive technology company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom, with a secondary office in Vienna, Austria. The company designs and develops Sixth Sense, a shoulder-mounted wearable navigation device paired with a Bluetooth-connected mobile application built for blind and visually impaired users. The product detects obstacles above knee level that white canes cannot sense, provides hands-free GPS turn-by-turn navigation, accepts verbal voice commands, and announces street names, landmarks, and nearby points of interest via audio and tunable haptic feedback. The company reports over 2,000 hours of development and more than 100 hours of user testing across four countries, with co-design involvement from visually impaired communities.

The revenue model centers on direct hardware sales of the Sixth Sense device bundled with a companion mobile application, with pricing not publicly disclosed and initial market access managed through a website waitlist for selected users in the UK and Austria. GTM is product-led and community-led: the company builds demand through content marketing on accessibility topics, earned media (Forbes Under 30 Europe 2025 recognition for co-founders Brian Mwenda and Laura Wissiak), and partnerships with mobility training organizations such as OMO networks and Guide Dogs-aligned bodies. Hope Tech also operates Hope Tech Insights, a Vienna-based research and consulting sub-brand focused on accessibility across digital and built environments, which diversifies the business beyond the hardware product.

The strategic ecosystem is anchored by co-development partnerships with the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) and a co-located relationship with Hilfsgemeinschaft der Blinden und Sehschwachen Österreichs in Vienna, supplemented by accelerator and ecosystem affiliations with EIT Urban Mobility, SETsquared, Royal Academy, Innovate Now, Better Mobility Accelerator, and DAT Europe. The company is founder-controlled with a small, named team of seven people spanning engineering, product, design, commercial strategy, finance, and operations, and has no disclosed institutional investors, funding rounds, or revenue figures in the available source material.

Name

Hope Tech

Legal name

Hope Tech Plus Limited

Website

https://hopetech.vision

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hope Tech develops Sixth Sense, a wearable navigation device and mobile app that helps blind and visually impaired users detect above-knee obstacles and navigate hands-free using GPS, voice commands, and haptic alerts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Assistive Technology

NAICS

Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841)

akta.pro primary industry

Assistive Input & Mobility Access (Alternative Keyboards/Mice, Switch Access, Eye Gaze) (EDAFAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wearable Computers (Industrial Smart Glasses/Wrist/Arm-Mount) (HDACALAH), Assistive & Accessibility Input Devices (Switches, Adaptive Controllers, Braille Keyboards) (HDACAFAL)

Keywords

• Assistive technology
• Wearable navigation devices
• Visual impairment aids
• Obstacle detection systems
• Accessible mobility solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Sixth Sense Hardware Device Sales: Sale of the Sixth Sense wearable assistive technology device, paired with a mobile app for navigation assistance for visually impaired users. The product combines hardware sales with companion software.
2. Mobile Application: Sixth Sense mobile app provides real-time location updates, orientation, and route planning, paired with the wearable device via Bluetooth.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hope Tech develops and sells Sixth Sense, a wearable navigational aid paired with a companion mobile app, designed for blind and visually impaired people. The shoulder-mounted device combines on-board hardware sensors for obstacle detection above knee level, hands-free GPS turn-by-turn navigation, verbal voice commands, and tunable haptic and audio alerts. It is designed to complement white canes and guide dogs rather than replace them.

Product overview

Hope Tech is an assistive technology company offering a single unified product: the Sixth Sense wearable navigation aid paired with a mobile app. Sixth Sense is designed specifically for blind and visually impaired people, complementing rather than replacing the white cane by detecting above-ground-level obstacles that canes cannot sense and providing hands-free GPS turn-by-turn navigation with voice command support. The company also operates Hope Tech Insights, a research and accessibility consulting arm based in Austria that works across Europe and Africa to promote inclusive design in digital and physical environments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hope Tech Insights: Research arm of Hope Tech focused on accessibility consulting across websites, PDFs, product design, and built environment, led by Laura Wissiak across Europe and Africa.

Products and services

• Sixth Sense Sixth Sense is a shoulder-mounted wearable navigational aid and companion mobile app co-designed with visually impaired people. It uses on-board hardware sensors to detect obstacles and hazards above knee level (that a white cane cannot sense) with tunable haptic and audio alerts reporting direction and distance, pairs via Bluetooth with a mobile app for hands-free turn-by-turn GPS navigation, supports verbal voice commands for destination input and device control, and provides location awareness (street name, landmarks, facing direction) and an "Around Me" search for nearby points of interest. It is sold to individual blind and visually impaired end users in the UK and Austria.

Quantifiable outcome

• Detection of obstacles above knee level (above ground level) that white canes cannot sense

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GDI HubcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) is listed as a partner organization providing ongoing support and expertise. GDI Hub has previously funded assistive technology initiatives including Innovate Now (Africa).
• Hilfsgemeinschaft (Hilfsgemeinschaft der Blinden und Sehschwachen Österreichs)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAustrian support group for people with visual impairments. Hope Tech has their Vienna office co-located with Hilfsgemeinschaft, enabling close collaboration with the visually impaired community and access to user testing and research opportunities.
• EIT Urban MobilityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. EIT Urban Mobility supports innovative mobility solutions across Europe.
• SETsquaredminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA technology business incubator and accelerator partnership supporting startup growth and development.
• Royal AcademyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization providing ongoing support and expertise.
• Innovate NowminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAfrica-based assistive technology accelerator and innovation hub focused on supporting startups addressing disability needs on the continent.
• Better Mobility AcceleratorminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMobility-focused accelerator program supporting innovative mobility solutions.
• DAT EuropeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization providing ongoing support and expertise in Europe.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• WeWALK: WeWALK builds a smart cane attachment with ultrasonic obstacle detection and smartphone-paired navigation for visually impaired users. It is the closest direct competitor to Hope Tech: same customer, same white-cane complementary positioning, hardware-plus-app architecture.
• Aira: Aira provides on-demand visual interpreting for blind and low-vision users via smartphone camera and live agents, with subscription pricing. It competes with Sixth Sense for the same mobility/independence use case but via a service-based, agent-driven model rather than dedicated sensors.
• Sunu (Sunu Band): Sunu produces a wrist-worn sonar/haptic wearable that helps blind and low-vision users detect obstacles and navigate. It overlaps directly with Hope Tech's sensor-plus-haptic navigation approach, with a different form factor (wrist vs. shoulder).
• Be My Eyes: Be My Eyes connects blind and low-vision users to sighted volunteers and now AI agents via live video for visual assistance. It targets the same end user and use cases (navigation, identifying surroundings) but uses the user's existing smartphone rather than dedicated wearable hardware.

Emerging players

• IrisVision: IrisVision builds low-vision wearable headsets that augment remaining sight for people with visual impairments using VR-style displays. It overlaps with Hope Tech on the wearable-AT-for-vision-impairment category but addresses a different subset of users (low-vision rather than blind).
• Waymap: Waymap is a precision-mapping and navigation app designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users, including detailed indoor navigation. It is a software-only competitor targeting the same hands-free, turn-by-turn navigation use case that Sixth Sense addresses through its app layer.
• Dot Incorporation: Dot produces the Dot Watch, a Braille smartwatch for blind and visually impaired users. It targets the same customer base with a different wearable form factor and focuses on tactile information delivery rather than navigation.
• Lazarillo: Lazarillo provides an accessible indoor/outdoor navigation app for blind and visually impaired users with audio guidance and POI information. It competes with the GPS and location-awareness features of Sixth Sense via a software-only model that lacks hardware-based obstacle detection.

Broad incumbents

• Humanware: Humanware is a long-established assistive technology vendor offering Braille displays (BrailleNote), GPS devices (Trekker Breeze), and magnifiers for blind and low-vision users. It is a broad incumbent that operates across the same accessibility category but with a much wider product portfolio.
• OrCam Technologies: OrCam's MyEye is a wearable AI camera for blind and visually impaired users that reads text, identifies faces, and recognizes products. It is a broader, more established wearable AT device serving the same end customer with a wider feature set and a higher price point.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hopetechplus
• Facebookfacebook.com/hopetechat

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hope Tech