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ClaimKit launches on YC to file R&D tax credits for AI teams
ClaimKit launched on Y Combinator with an AI tool that files research and development tax credits. The company says 80 clients use it.
Image: ClaimKit
Why it mattersMost engineering teams lose R&D tax money because the paperwork is slow. A tool that captures the evidence as the work happens can change what a finance team claims. A specialist still signs each claim.
Most engineering teams can claim some of their research spend back as a tax credit. The paperwork is what stops them. A finance lead asks a chief technology officer to list every project, every engineer and every hour that counts. Often the ask comes months after the work ended. ClaimKit launched on Y Combinator this week. It is an AI tool that does that paperwork while the work happens.
Rachel and Will, the founders, say ClaimKit plugs into the tools an engineering team already uses. It captures the evidence over time. It produces a claim ready to file. The founders say 80 clients use it across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. That is seven months after launch. Y Combinator lists the company in its Fall 2026 batch.
What the product does
ClaimKit covers two kinds of tax work. In the United States, the company says its output is a claim ready to file on Form 6765. That is the federal form for the research credit. ClaimKit says it also covers the equivalent schemes in the United Kingdom and Canada. The founders write that 70 governments offer some form of credit on research spend.
The founders write that "for tech companies that can mean roughly 10 to 40 percent back on every research dollar". That range is the company's own figure, not a measured rate.
The tool pulls the evidence an auditor asks for. It reads git logs, payroll and the team's own tracking tools. It records what each engineer worked on, what it cost and which project it belonged to. It then drafts a claim and a specialist reviews it. The founders describe the in-house reviewers as former staff of KPMG, PwC and BDO.
Who buys it
The target buyer is a chief technology officer or a chief financial officer. The company has engineers on the payroll and research work on the roadmap. The company's own calculator on the home page shows an example. It reports $1,694,860 in research expenses producing a federal and state credit of $142,370. That is an example, not a client figure.
The company says its clients complete the claim in a fraction of the time their consultants used to take. No independent measurement is cited. The time saving is ClaimKit's own claim about its own clients.
The honest limits
Two things to hold in mind. ClaimKit's figures about itself are its own. The 80 clients, the three countries and the reviewers are all what the company says. No audit of the claims it has filed is public.
Second, Y Combinator is listed as an investor through the Fall 2026 batch. The amount of that investment is standard YC terms. The launch page does not restate them. No other round has been announced on the launch page.
Source
- Primary source: ClaimKit on Y Combinator.
- Company site: ClaimKit.
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
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