Cardan
Cardan is a Tilburg-based full-service digital accessibility agency offering WCAG 2.2 audits, SaaS reporting (Cardan Auditor), training, and change management to Dutch and EU government, business, and supplier clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersTilburg, Netherlands
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Cardan does
Cardan is a Tilburg, Netherlands-based full-service digital accessibility agency that helps organizations comply with WCAG 2.2, the Wet Digitale Overheid (WDO), and the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The firm was originally founded in 2002 as a municipal reintegration enterprise, discontinued that line of work in July 2015, and pivoted to digital accessibility in February 2016 after signing an agreement with Stichting Drempelvrij.nl, becoming one of only three inspection institutions in the country authorized to issue the Waarmerk Drempelvrij quality mark. The company operates as a private, founder-led specialist consultancy with roughly 20-25 employees and is led by General Director Joost Eijkens, Operational Director Gaston Schul, and Commercial Director Marijn van der Laan.
The portfolio covers the full accessibility lifecycle across three verticals (government, businesses, suppliers) and includes WCAG 2.2 audits (full audits, content, technical, app, PDF, quickscan), Cardan Academy training (15+ e-learnings plus live and incompany sessions), custom advisory through Cardan Care premium SLAs and strippenkaart token engagements, awareness experiences (Ervaringsplein), and long-term change management. The proprietary Cardan Auditor SaaS tool implements the W3C/Logius-recommended WCAG-EM methodology for self-service research, with three monthly subscription tiers (€175-€275) and a Pro-tier REST API. Notable named clients include ING, ABN AMRO, KLM, Vilans, PinkRoccade, SkillsTown, Shift2, IND, and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. In 2026 the company is integrating AI-powered automatic testing through a partnership with Evinced.
Revenue is generated through a mix of recurring SaaS subscriptions for Cardan Auditor, project-based professional services for audits and training, ongoing advisory retainers (Cardan Care), and certification fees via Waarmerk Drempelvrij. Go-to-market is primarily sales-led direct consultation supported by content marketing (169 blog articles, webinars, whitepapers), industry events (NCDT, DUIT Connect, Week van de Toegankelijkheid), and a community-led content engine. Cardan is also expanding cross-border into Belgium, Germany, and France to capture EAA-driven demand, and operates with no disclosed outside funding or parent company.
Cardan firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cardan
- Legal name
- Cardan
- Website
- https://cardan.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Cardan is a Tilburg-based full-service digital accessibility agency offering WCAG 2.2 audits, SaaS reporting (Cardan Auditor), training, and change management to Dutch and EU government, business, and supplier clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cardan industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Accessibility Services
- NAICS
- Educational Services (611), Business Service Centers (56143)
- SIC
- Services-Management Services (8741), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital Accessibility & Web/App Compliance (WCAG) (EDALAGAG)
Keywords
Where Cardan is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tilburg
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cardan business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Cardan Auditor SaaS Subscriptions: Monthly subscription model for the Cardan Auditor WCAG reporting tool. Three tiers: Starter (€175/month), Business (€225/month), and Pro (€275/month). Multi-year contracts available (1-5 years) with flexible commitment periods.
- WCAG Audits and Research: Professional services for conducting WCAG 2.2 audits on websites, apps, and PDF documents. Includes complete audits, content audits, technical audits, quick scans, app audits, and supplementary audits. Reports used for accessibility statements.
- Training and Education: E-learnings, live online training, and incompany training on digital accessibility topics including WCAG specialist certification, content accessibility, developer training, UX design, and PDF accessibility. Certificate provided upon completion.
- Advisory Services (Cardan Care): Premium Service Level Agreement and strippenkaart (ticket-based) advisory services for organizations serious about digital accessibility. Includes advice on WCAG implementation, legislation compliance, PDF remediation, and EAA preparation.
- Project Management / Change Management: Long-term engagement services to embed digital accessibility in organizational processes. Includes implementation planning, stakeholder communication, compliance management, and ongoing monitoring to ensure sustainable accessibility.
- Drempelvrij Certification: Certification services through Waarmerk Drempelvrij.nl. Cardan is one of three inspection institutions in the Netherlands authorized to issue this certification.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Cardan Auditor Starter - Manual research support |
| Subscription | Monthly | Cardan Auditor Business - Best for businesses, government, and suppliers |
| Subscription | Monthly | Cardan Auditor Pro - For large organizations and research bureaus |
| Other | Multi-year contract | WCAG Audit Services - Quote-based professional services |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Training Services - E-learning, live online, incompany |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels9 records
Cardan product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cardan is a full-service digital accessibility agency that conducts WCAG 2.2 audits on websites, apps, and PDFs, and delivers training, advisory, awareness, and change management services to help organizations comply with the Dutch Wet Digitale Overheid and the European Accessibility Act. The offering is anchored by Cardan Auditor, a proprietary SaaS WCAG reporting tool built on the WCAG-EM method, which allows customers and researchers to self-conduct accessibility audits with subscription tiers ranging from Starter to Pro.
Product overview
Cardan is a full-service digital accessibility agency offering a comprehensive portfolio of services. The core offering consists of Cardan Auditor (a WCAG reporting tool for self-conducting accessibility audits), WCAG 2.2 Onderzoeken (various audit types), Cardan Academy (online training platform with 15+ courses), Advies op Maat (advisory services with Cardan Care premium SLA), Bewustwording (awareness programs including the Ervaringsplein experience), and Verandermanagement (change management for organizational integration). These products work together to provide end-to-end support from awareness and training through auditing and implementation to sustainable organizational change management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Cardan Auditor: A WCAG reporting tool that helps organizations conduct and document digital accessibility assessments based on the WCAG-EM methodology.
- Cardan Academy
- Ervaringsplein
Products and services
- Cardan Auditor
- WCAG 2.2 Onderzoeken (WCAG 2.2 Audits)
- Cardan Academy
- Advies op Maat (Custom Advisory)
- Bewustwording (Awareness Services)
- Verandermanagement (Change Management)
Quantifiable outcome
- 25% of Dutch population (4.5 million people) has a functional disability - target market for digital accessibility
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Cardan
Customer profileNamed customers16 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Cardan technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Cardan partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Digitall InclusivecoreCardan is a partner of Digitall Inclusive, a network of accessibility partners. They participate together in events like webinars and promote digital accessibility awareness.
- DDAI (Dutch Digital Accessibility Index)coreCardan is DDAI accredited and authorized to issue Waarmerk Drempelvrij certificates. They are listed in the DDAI register of certified organizations.
- Stichting Drempelvrij.nlcoreCardan is one of three inspection institutions authorized to certify websites with the Waarmerk Drempelvrij quality mark.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cardan competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Level Access: US-headquartered digital accessibility services and platform company offering WCAG audits, training, and managed accessibility programs to enterprise and government buyers. Most direct comparable given its combined consulting + SaaS (aXe/A11y) model that mirrors Cardan's full-service approach.
- Deque Systems: Long-established US accessibility specialist offering manual audits, axe-core tooling, training, and enterprise consulting. Comparable to Cardan as a services-led full-stack accessibility firm with proprietary tooling and deep WCAG expertise.
- AbilityNet: UK-based disability and digital accessibility organization providing WCAG audits, training, and consultancy, with strong regulatory expertise tied to UK Equality Act and EU EAA. Closest UK comparator to Cardan in scope and mission.
- Equally (Stichting Equally / equally.nl): Netherlands-headquartered accessibility agency offering WCAG audits, training, and Drempelvrij inspection certification. Direct Dutch competitor and fellow authorized Waarmerk Drempelvrij inspection institution, sharing Cardan's core market and regulatory positioning.
- TPGi (The Paciello Group): Accessibility consultancy providing WCAG audits, training, and testing tooling (e.g., accessibility testing platforms). Directly comparable in offering mix (audit + training + advisory) and enterprise/government customer focus.
Emerging players
- UserWay: Israel/US-headquartered accessibility widget, AI remediation, and audit SaaS provider. Compares as an automation-led competitor for parts of Cardan's audit business, particularly in lower-cost SMB tiers.
- AudioEye: US-listed accessibility automation/SaaS platform focused on automated remediation and continuous monitoring. Different (automation-first) approach but targeting the same WCAG/EAA buyer pool; could emerge as a complement or competitor to Cardan's manual-audit model.
Broad incumbents
- Monsido: Denmark-based web governance SaaS including accessibility scanning, content QA, and policy monitoring. Comparable as a wider-scope platform that competes with the Cardan Auditor tool inside enterprise web-governance buying decisions.
- Siteimprove: Danish digital-governance platform providing content quality, SEO, and now accessibility scanning to enterprise and government clients. Overlaps with Cardan Auditor's continuous-monitoring use case inside a much broader content-governance platform.
Others
- Digitall (partner of Cardan): Netherlands-based accessibility specialist connected through Cardan's Digitall Inclusive partnership. Adjacent/partner rather than head-to-head competitor; useful for ecosystem mapping of Dutch accessibility services.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cardan social profiles
Digital presenceCardan financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cardan leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Cardan funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cardan 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 Cardan
What does Cardan do?
Cardan is a full-service digital accessibility agency that conducts WCAG 2.2 audits on websites, apps, and PDFs, and delivers training, advisory, awareness, and change management services to help organizations comply with the Dutch Wet Digitale Overheid and the European Accessibility Act. The offering is anchored by Cardan Auditor, a proprietary SaaS WCAG reporting tool built on the WCAG-EM method, which allows customers and researchers to self-conduct accessibility audits with subscription tiers ranging from Starter to Pro.
Is Cardan a public or private company?
Cardan is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Cardan founded?
Cardan was founded in 2002. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Cardan based?
Cardan is headquartered in Tilburg, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Cardan make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Cardan Auditor SaaS Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are WCAG Audits and Research, training and Education, advisory Services (Cardan Care), project Management / Change Management and drempelvrij Certification.
Who are Cardan's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Level Access, Deque Systems, AbilityNet, Equally (Stichting Equally / equally.nl) and TPGi (The Paciello Group). Emerging players are UserWay and AudioEye. Broad incumbents are Monsido and Siteimprove. Digitall (partner of Cardan) is listed as an others.
Does Cardan have an API?
Yes. Cardan Auditor offers a REST-API (available exclusively in the PRO plan) that allows users to synchronize all research data with their own system.
What industry is Cardan in?
Cardan's product category is Digital Accessibility Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDALAGAG, Digital Accessibility & Web/App Compliance (WCAG). Its NAICS code is 611 and its SIC code is 8741.