Chrono Innovation

Name

Chrono Innovation

Legal name

Chrono Innovation Inc.

Website

https://chronoinnovation.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Chrono R&D Subscriptions: Per-claim subscription model for SR&ED tax credit automation. Pricing tiers based on team size (number of eligible employees). Includes automated evidence collection, AI technical narratives, and CRA audit-ready documentation. All features included at every tier.
2. Launchpad (Fixed-Price Product Delivery): One-time fixed-price product delivery at $9,000 CAD. Production-ready AI MVP delivered in 2 weeks. Pay for finished product, not hours.
3. Professional Services (Build, Scale, Operate): Custom software development, embedded engineering teams, product acceleration, tech recruiting, managed DevOps, and ongoing app support. Billed as fixed-scope engagements or ongoing retainer arrangements.
4. Freemium Platform Access: Platform offers a free tier with limited features alongside paid subscription plans. Subscription Term billed annually or monthly with automatic renewal.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chrono Innovation builds and delivers AI-powered software and engineering services for businesses, including an AI-driven SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) tax credit documentation platform, custom software development, AI agents, retrieval and knowledge systems, and a productized fixed-price MVP offering. Its services span AI UX design, embedded engineering pods, managed DevOps, and managed application support, primarily for organizations that need applied AI and product engineering capacity.

Product overview

Chrono Innovation is a unified platform offering a portfolio of AI-powered products and software development services. The core products are Chrono R&D (R&D Tax Credit Automation using AI agent 'Lucius' to generate SR&ED documentation from dev tools) and Launchpad (2-week production-ready MVP development at $9k). Around these core products, Chrono offers Build services (AI Agents, Retrieval & Knowledge Systems, AI UX & Product Design, Custom Software Development), Scale services (Embedded Senior Pods, Product Acceleration, Talent), and Operate services (Managed DevOps, Managed App Support). The platform combines AI agents, senior engineers, and consulting to offer software builds, SR&ED documentation automation, and engineering capacity under one account.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Chrono R&D: R&D Tax Credit Automation - AI-powered SR&ED tax credit documentation platform that automates evidence collection and technical narrative drafting for Canadian tax credit claims.
• Chrono Launchpad

Products and services

• Chrono R&D AI-powered software platform that automates the capture, organization, and submission of SR&ED tax credit documentation for businesses performing eligible technical R&D, primarily in Canada. Designed to reduce manual documentation effort and maximize claims.
• Launchpad Fixed-price, productized MVP development offering priced at $9,000, giving startups and growth-stage companies a low-friction entry into a working minimum viable product built by Chrono's senior AI/product engineering team.
• AI Agents Custom AI agent development service for businesses that need task-specific autonomous agents, leveraging Chrono's proprietary agent technology including the agent "Lucius."
• Retrieval & Knowledge Systems Design and implementation of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and organizational knowledge systems that allow businesses to query and operationalize their internal data using AI.
• AI UX & Product Design AI-first user experience and product design service, focused on designing interfaces and product flows that embed AI capabilities (agents, copilots, retrieval) into client applications.
• Custom Software Development Bespoke end-to-end custom software development service for businesses needing dedicated engineering capacity to build or extend their products.
• Embedded Senior Pods Staff-augmentation offering that embeds senior Chrono engineers into client product teams to accelerate delivery on AI, software, and platform initiatives.
• Product Acceleration Service focused on accelerating client product roadmaps by dedicating Chrono teams to ship features, releases, and platform improvements on compressed timelines.
• Talent Talent service providing client companies with access to Chrono-vetted engineering and AI talent for permanent or extended engagements.
• Managed DevOps Ongoing managed DevOps service for client infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, cloud environments, and platform reliability.
• Managed App Support Ongoing managed application support and maintenance service that handles bug fixes, enhancements, monitoring, and operational upkeep for client software products post-launch.

Quantifiable outcome

• Annual savings of $20,000 to $80,000 per company by reducing 15-25% consultant fees
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SR&ED Specialist PartnerscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerVetted network of SR&ED specialist consultants that customers can connect with if they want consultant support. Customers can choose to self-file, work with their existing consultant, or use Chrono's vetted partners.
• Dev Tool IntegrationscoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrations with 8+ development tools including Jira, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and more for automated evidence collection and R&D activity tracking.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe processes all online payments for subscription fees. PCI-DSS compliant payment processing. Chrono does not store payment card information.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Boast.ai: Canadian AI-native SR&ED tax credit automation platform. Direct overlap with Chrono R&D's value proposition — automated evidence capture and AI-generated technical narratives — competing for the same Canadian R&D-active software companies.
• Galvanize (Diligent): R&D tax credit automation software (acquired by Diligent). Targets the same workflow of evidence collection, technical narrative drafting, and audit-ready claim assembly, with comparable enterprise go-to-market motion.
• Toptal: Vetted senior engineer marketplace with embedded-team and fractional offerings. Direct overlap with Chrono's 'Embedded Senior Pods' service — both sell on-demand senior engineers to startups and scale-ups without permanent hiring.
• Andela: Global engineer marketplace specializing in vetted technical talent for embedded engagements. Comparable to Chrono's Talent service and Embedded Senior Pods, particularly for companies seeking dedicated engineering capacity on flexible terms.
• Turing: AI-powered engineer matching and staffing platform. Overlaps with Chrono's Talent and Embedded Senior Pods offerings in providing curated senior engineering capacity to product teams on demand.

Broad incumbents

• Ayming: Global R&D tax credit and innovation consulting firm with a substantial Canadian practice. Competes with Chrono R&D as the legacy incumbent offering SR&ED consulting services — the workflow Chrono is automating away.
• KPMG (R&D Tax Practice): Big Four advisory with a large R&D tax credit practice serving Canadian SR&ED claimants. Provides traditional consulting-led SR&ED services that Chrono's AI automation directly displaces for the mid-market.

Emerging players

• Builder.ai: AI-assisted application development platform offering fixed-price software builds. Comparable to Chrono Launchpad's fixed-price, accelerated MVP delivery model, though at a different scale and customer segment.
• Lindy AI: No-code AI agent builder platform. Comparable to Chrono's AI Agents service line — both enable business users to deploy task-specific autonomous agents, though Lindy is self-serve and Chrono's is a managed build engagement.
• Relevance AI: AI agent and workforce platform for building multi-agent workflows. Adjacent peer to Chrono's AI Agents service and to the underlying agent framework that powers Chrono's Lucius SR&ED documentation product.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Chrono_innov

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chrono Innovation