capito and the EIC Accelerator: AI That Writes in Easy Language
Official letters, contracts and websites are often written in language many adults struggle to follow. The EU project capito won cites a figure of 53% of adults worldwide. capito, founded in Graz in 1999 by Walburga Fröhlich and Klaus Candussi and run through CFS Consulting Franchise & Sales GmbH, rewrites such texts into easy-to-read and plain language, and since 2021 has sold capito.ai, a tool that does part of that work automatically.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,722,185.50 towards a €2.46 million project to automate more of the process and extend it from German to English, Spanish and French. By the end of the project in January 2024, English and French prototypes existed and Spanish was in progress, and capito had built a browser add-on that simplifies web pages. Its reach beyond the German-speaking world is not documented publicly.
Company file
- Legal entity
- CFS Consulting Franchise & Sales GmbH, Graz, Austria (VAT ATU61475718)
- Brand
- capito
- Founded
- 1999, Graz
- Founders
- Walburga Fröhlich (CEO), Klaus Candussi
- Products
- capito.ai, capito API and switch, course generator, translation and consulting
- Model
- Social franchise network in Austria and Germany
- EIC project
- capito, 1 Mar 2022 to 31 Jan 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant only
Where capito Stands Today
capito's website offers capito.ai, an API, a "switch" for simplified website versions, a course generator, accessible PDFs and human translation into easy language, sold through a franchise network in Austria and Germany. Its press page links its offer to Germany's accessibility law, under which barrier-free communication became mandatory on 28 June 2025, and quotes CEO Walburga Fröhlich on how few adults in Germany read very well. We found no figures for capito.ai users, customers or revenue.
The track record
Thousands of simplification projects behind the AI
Easy-to-read and plain-language projects delivered, as stated by capito at the award and at the end of the EIC project, mostly in German-speaking countries.
capito; CORDIS project 190167125 periodic report.
The Technology: Rules Plus AI
Easy-to-read language follows rules on sentence length, vocabulary and structure, graded by reading level. capito built its AI on the texts and rules from thousands of human-simplified projects. The CORDIS report says the company transferred its simplification criteria to Spanish, English and French, produced English and French prototypes, and built "capito bot", a browser add-on for Firefox, Edge, Chrome and Safari that simplifies any web page, with integrations for WordPress, Drupal, Typo3 and other systems.
"53% of all adults in the world are struggling to understand public and private information."
capito project report, CORDISWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 70% of a €2.46M project
The capito project ran from March 2022 to January 2024. The award was grant only.
CORDIS project 190167125. Values in € millions.
When capito announced the award, it said the money would advance its automated simplification software and extend its digital services to English, Spanish and French, reaching more than 100 million more people. The project ran from March 2022 to January 2024. CORDIS reports public agencies, banks, ministries, museums, industry, insurers and media as research partners or prospective pilot customers, without numbers.
- Automated simplificationDeliveredcapito.ai and browser add-on.
- English and FrenchPrototypesPrototypes by January 2024.
- SpanishIn progressNot finished at project end.
- 100 million more people reachedNot shownNo usage data published.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The record
From an easy-language franchise to an AI tool
capito spent two decades simplifying texts by hand before building capito.ai; the EIC project was meant to take it beyond German.
- 1999FoundedWalburga Fröhlich and Klaus Candussi start the easy-language business in Graz
- 2021capito.aiAI tool to check and simplify texts in German
- Oct 2021EIC Accelerator cut-offMaking information understandable for everyone
- Feb 2022Financial Inclusion AwardZero Project Conference, sponsored by UniCredit Bank Austria
- Mar 2022EIC project startsAutomation and expansion to English, Spanish and French€1.72M grant
- Jan 2024EIC project closesEnglish and French prototypes; Spanish in progress; browser add-on
- Jun 2025German accessibility lawBarrier-free communication becomes mandatory in Germany, per capito
capito and CORDIS.
The Money
The EIC award was grant only. capito's own statement said it was the first company from Styria to win one. We found no announced investment round, and Austrian company filings were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
How many people or organisations use capito.ai, whether the English, French and Spanish versions are commercially available, and capito's revenue are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The European Accessibility Act and national laws increasingly require services to be understandable to everyone, including people with learning difficulties and low literacy. Tools that make easy language cheaper to produce help public bodies and companies comply, and capito brings two decades of practice to the problem.
What the project promised
Automated easy-language services in English, Spanish and French, reaching 100 million more people.
What the record shows
AI tools in German, prototypes in English and French, Spanish in progress, and no public usage figures.
The Verdict
A strong niche, an unproven expansion
capito is an established business that describes a social purpose, and its technology builds on two decades of easy-language practice. The EIC funded its step beyond German, and the project produced prototypes rather than finished products in the new languages. Two years on, there is no public sign of how far that expansion has gone.
capito has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
Industry
Digital and computingLanguage technology
- Focus
- Speech and text software
- Technologies
- Natural language processing
- Artificial intelligence
- Keywords
- Easy-to-read language
- Digital accessibility
- Public sector communication
- Plain language