Turning Paperwork into Payback: How Vancouver’s Boast Helps Scaleups in Canada Find Breathing Room to Build

The days of easy capital are over. In 2025, scaling a product company in Canada means managing growth with fewer bets, tighter timelines, and a more cautious investor class. Founders are looking everywhere for leverage. One place they’re increasingly finding it? The balance sheet.

In St. John’s, Newfoundland, a fast-growing team at CoLab is building tools to modernize how engineers design the physical world. Their software makes it easier for hardware teams to review CAD files, resolve issues, and reach decisions faster, whether they’re designing a jet engine or a medical device. It’s technical, collaborative work that requires focus and speed.

But for years, the company was spending upwards of 150 hours annually just filing their Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit claims. It was a slow, interview-heavy process that pulled engineers into meetings they didn’t want to be in.

That changed when CoLab brought in Boast.

Vancouver-based Boast specializes in helping Canadian companies access the innovation capital they’re entitled to. Its approach is part software, part service, combining in-house technical expertise with a modern AI-driven platform that automates the grind of tax credit claims.

Since launch, Boast has helped more than 1,500 companies unlock over $600 million in R&D funding without the headaches.

For CoLab, the difference was immediate. Their time spent on claims dropped from over 150 hours to just a few check-ins. Their claims got bigger. And audit risk dropped to zero.

That kind of outcome is exactly what Imad Jebara, CEO of Boast, wants to deliver more of.

“Too many companies leave money on the table because the system feels too complex or too time-consuming,” says Jebara. “Our job is to change that and to make accessing innovation capital simple, fast, and stress-free. Especially now, every dollar counts.”

In an economy where every dollar matters, Boast is helping Canadian companies turn complex tax credits into a reliable source of funding, so they can spend less time on paperwork and more time building what’s next.

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This article is part of CCI’s new “By Canadian Innovators” series, which showcases how members of the Council of Canadian Innovators work with homegrown companies to fuel their growth and make Canada more prosperous. Each story in this series highlights the unique contributions of these companies to building a more prosperous, innovation-driven economy. To learn more about the companies CCI works with to build a more prosperous Canada, visit our member directory.