Dealing with taxes is rarely enjoyable—that is, until the system benefits you. Numerous nations offer tax credits to startups for their research and development (R&D) efforts and associated employee expenses, but navigating the bureaucratic processes involved can often be lengthy and complex. Boast.ai seeks to simplify this experience by combining artificial intelligence with the expertise of tax professionals. The company, currently serving around 1,000 clients, recently announced the completion of a $23 million Series A funding round, spearheaded by Radian Capital.

Founded in 2012 by Alex Popa (CEO) and Lloyed Lobo (president), Boast specializes in assisting businesses—particularly startups—in the United States and Canada with claiming their R&D tax credits.

“Across the globe, over $200 billion in R&D incentives are distributed to support businesses, not only in the U.S. and Canada, but also in countries like the U.K., Australia, France, New Zealand, and Ireland,” Lobo explained. “However, substantial administrative hurdles exist. The process is often complicated, requiring careful identification of qualifying and non-qualifying work, followed by filing with tax authorities, and potentially facing lengthy and detailed audits.”

Following exploration of several other startup concepts, the co-founders committed to developing Boast. Through this process, they discovered that while AI couldn’t fully automate the process, it was becoming sufficiently advanced to enhance human capabilities and enable scalable solutions for managing R&D tax credits.

“In my view, successfully launching a company requires three key elements,” Lobo explained. “First, customers need a specific result, and it must be delivered as quickly and affordably as possible. Second, achieving this may initially involve significant manual effort. Identify those manual steps and then develop workflows to automate them. And finally, with those two components in place, you’ll accumulate enough data to begin leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning. These are the crucial lessons we learned through experience.”

Having undertaken this manual work, Boast can now automatically gather data from tools such as JIRA and GitHub, as well as financial platforms like QuickBooks, Gusto, and (in the near future) ADP. Its algorithms then analyze this data, determine the amount of time employees dedicate to projects eligible for tax credits, and automate the tax filing procedure. Throughout this process—and when interacting with government agencies—the company maintains human oversight.

“Our entire [customer success] team consists of engineers,” Lobo pointed out. “This is because engineers are essential for informed decision-making. They identify any potential issues, manage audits, and handle communication with government authorities. This approach allows us to achieve SaaS-like margins, or even better.”

Ideally, a solution like Boast will generate returns exceeding its cost, and the company reports having secured over $150 million in R&D tax credits since its inception. The company is currently experiencing year-over-year growth, which prompted the founders to seek external funding for the first time. These funds will be allocated to expanding the sales team (currently comprising only four individuals) and enhancing the platform, though Lobo emphasized a desire to avoid overly aggressive expansion. The objective, he stated, is to avoid further fundraising until Boast reaches $30 to $50 million in revenue.

With full implementation, Boast also functions as a central repository for all R&D and engineering data. This is, in fact, the company’s overarching vision, with the tax credits serving as an initial entry point. By the middle of the following year, the team intends to introduce a new product focused on R&D-based financing, Lobo indicated.

Throughout its history, the Boast team has also prioritized fostering the growth of the broader startup ecosystem in its operating markets, with a particular emphasis on Canada. The Boast team also organizes the well-known annual Traction conference in Vancouver, Canada (Disclosure: I have served as a moderator at the event since its beginning). A robust startup ecosystem naturally expands Boast’s potential client base—and, notably, the team connected with its investors at the conference as well.