How Augment unlocked $500K in R&D credits — with a more defensible claim
Augment
Augment is a growth-stage AI company automating complex supply chain workflows for freight brokerages, carriers, and distributors. With $110M raised across Seed and Series A and a ~100-person engineering team, they had significant R&D credit potential — but no visibility into it.
Company
Growth-stage AI company automating supply chain workflows for freight brokerages, carriers, and distributors
Team Size
Rapidly scaled to ~100 engineers within a year, $15M total payroll (majority engineering)
Region
United States
Challenge
No visibility into R&D credit value, no accrual in place, and a previous process built on qualitative interviews rather than data-driven analysis
Solution
Taxnova ran a data-driven R&D credit study alongside Augment's existing accountant, building a traceable, audit-ready claim from real engineering activity
Result
$500K+ R&D credit achieved — with a more defensible methodology and better economics than with their previous approach
The problem: invisible credits in a fast-growing engineering org
Augment had the profile of a company with significant R&D credit potential — a 100-person engineering team building novel AI capabilities for supply chain automation, with fast headcount growth. But they had no view of what that was worth.
Identifying qualifying R&D activity inside a fast-growing engineering organisation — spread across multiple countries, many teams, and dozens of parallel projects — is genuinely hard. There was no accrual visibility and no systematic approach to building a defensible claim. Augment's initial estimate of their credit value was well below the actual potential.
"We weren't accruing for R&D credits at all — and we had no view of what we might be owed".
A different methodology: start from real engineering data
Augment evaluated Taxnova against their previous approach to the R&D credit: high-level qualitative interviews, no deep data integration, numbers backed into rather than built from evidence. The result is a claim that is difficult to defend if scrutinised.
Taxnova took the opposite approach:
Connected directly to Augment's engineering systems (Linear, GitHub, Notion, G-Docs, Slack)
Built time allocation and project identification from actual activity data
Produced narratives traceable to real tickets, commits, and documents
Generated the initial alpha report quickly once the integrations were live
Gave Augment clear visibility into how each activity was being claimed — evidenced at every step
"I see similarities between you and Carta's 409A valuation service — connect the tools, ask the right questions, and produce a defensible number rooted in real data".
What changed
1
A stronger, more defensible claim
Augment's previous process relied on high-level qualitative interviews to back into numbers — without a strong data foundation.
Taxnova's data-driven methodology connected directly to engineering systems
Every figure was traceable back to real activity — commits, tickets, and project history
In the unlikely event of an audit: "You tell us where we went wrong"
Daniel described Taxnova's approach as "much more defensible" — data-driven, traceable, and evidenced at every step.
2
Client visibility into how the number was built
Previously, Daniel described the experience as "here's the number, take it or leave it". Taxnova gave Augment full transparency into how each claim component was built, with every step rooted in evidence.
Augment had visibility into how each activity was being claimed and could weigh in
The final number was the outcome of a transparent, evidence-backed process — not a black box
3
A white-glove process — fast, efficient, above and beyond
Once the integrations were live, Taxnova generated the initial alpha report quickly, keeping iteration cycles tight throughout.
Alpha report produced shortly after integrations were stood up
Augment committed to continuing the partnership for the next claim
Daniel described it as "white glove service — fast, efficient, went above and beyond".
4
Better value for the work delivered
Augment compared Taxnova's pricing against the overall cost of their previous process before committing. Taxnova's fixed fee came in lower at Augment's scale.
Fixed-fee pricing means the savings scale with the claim — not the bill
The economics made the decision straightforward.
What's next
The 2025 claim was just the start. With headcount continuing to grow, Augment's 2026 R&D credit is expected to be even larger — and Augment has already committed to running it with Taxnova.
Augment also has a meaningful engineering presence in Canada, where SR&ED is one of the most generous R&D incentive programmes in the world. Unlike most providers who operate in a single jurisdiction, Taxnova covers R&D incentives globally — making it the natural partner as Augment's footprint grows.
"We'll work with you guys" — Daniel, Augment
The takeaway
By building R&D claims from real engineering data, Taxnova helped Augment:
Unlock significant R&D credits they had no previous visibility into
Build a significantly more defensible claim than their previous process
Reduce cost while improving quality — better methodology, better economics
Gain clear visibility into which activities qualified and how confidently each could be claimed
Taxnova gave Augment something their previous process never produced: a data-grounded, audit-ready foundation for every claim — with full visibility into how the number was built.
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