What Code for Canada does

Code for Canada is a Toronto-based, national non-profit organization founded in 2017 that partners with Canadian governments and non-profits to design, modernize, and deliver digital public services. The organization addresses a chronic capacity gap inside the public sector by deploying interdisciplinary teams of designers, developers, researchers, and product managers who embed alongside government staff to co-build digital services while transferring skills to in-house teams. Its work spans federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdictions, with a stated partner base of 22 federal, 13 provincial, and 10 municipal government organizations.

The organization operates three core service lines: Options Analysis (technology assessment, environmental scans, and prototyping to inform modernization decisions), Collaborative Development (co-development of digital services alongside government teams), and Inclusive User Research (usability testing with diverse communities, supported by the GRIT participant-recruitment program). Engagements frequently produce discrete digital deliverables, including the Kiujuk service-truck dispatching app for the Kativik Regional Government, the MOVE collision-data mapping tool for the City of Toronto, and the open-source BikeSpace cycling-parking application. The technology stack is human-centred-design-driven rather than productized; the organization leverages service blueprints, agile iteration, and AI prototyping tools in client work but does not sell a proprietary software platform.

Revenue is generated through structured partnership contracts with government entities, supplemented by grants and philanthropic funding consistent with its non-profit status. Pricing is negotiated per engagement and is not publicly disclosed. The organization is incorporated under the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, operates as a remote-first entity headquartered on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is led by CEO Dorothy Eng.

Name

Code for Canada

Legal name

Code for Canada

Website

https://codefor.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Code for Canada is a Toronto-based national non-profit founded in 2017 that partners with federal, provincial, and municipal governments across Canada to co-design, modernize, and deliver inclusive digital public services through options analysis, collaborative development, and inclusive user research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Technology Consulting

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Government Digital Service & eGovernment (Service Delivery, IDs, Portals) (BPAIAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital Inclusion & Civic Tech (Connectivity, GovTech for Social Good) (BPAGALAK), Digital Accessibility & Web/App Compliance (WCAG) (EDALAGAG)

Keywords

• Digital government services
• Civic technology consulting
• Inclusive user research
• Digital public infrastructure
• Government service modernization

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Government and Non-Profit Partnership Engagements: Code for Canada generates revenue through structured partnership engagements with federal, provincial, and municipal government partners. As a non-profit, the organization operates on a contract-based model where government entities engage the organization for specific digital service projects, collaborative development, options analysis, and inclusive user research services. The organization also receives grants and funding from government and philanthropic sources.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Code for Canada is a national non-profit that partners with federal, provincial, and municipal governments to co-develop digital public services. Its core offerings are three service lines: Options Analysis (technology assessment and procurement advisory), Collaborative Development (embedded co-development of digital services alongside government teams), and Inclusive User Research (usability testing with diverse communities, including people with disabilities, through the GRIT program). The organization also produces specific digital tool deliverables for government clients, such as the Kiujuk app for Kativik Regional Government and MOVE for the City of Toronto.

Product overview

Code for Canada is a national non-profit organization that provides consulting and service delivery to government and non-profit partners. Rather than a unified software platform, the organization offers three core service lines: Options Analysis (technology assessment and procurement advisory), Collaborative Development (co-development of digital services), and Inclusive User Research (usability testing with diverse communities). These services are delivered through interdisciplinary teams and often produce digital tool deliverables for specific government clients, such as the Kiujuk app for Kativik Regional Government, MOVE for the City of Toronto, and BikeSpace (open source) for Toronto's cycling community. The GRIT program serves as the community recruitment pool for the Inclusive User Research service.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Options Analysis Options Analysis is a consulting service that helps government partners assess technology needs and make informed decisions about modernizing or replacing digital products and services through risk assessments, environmental scans, and prototyping. It is targeted at federal, provincial, and municipal government entities seeking evidence-based procurement decisions.
• Collaborative Development Collaborative Development is a co-development service in which Code for Canada's digital professionals work alongside government teams to build sustainable digital services while simultaneously building the team's internal digital capacity. It is targeted at federal, provincial, and municipal government partners seeking modernized digital public services.
• Inclusive User Research Inclusive User Research is a user research service that connects government teams with diverse communities across Canada, including people with disabilities, to test digital products and services through usability testing sessions. It is targeted at government partners seeking to validate accessibility and usability of their digital public services.
• BikeSpace BikeSpace is a community-built web application developed in collaboration with Civic Tech Toronto and the City of Toronto that enables cyclists to report bicycle parking issues, broken racks, and locations needing new bike parking through a public dashboard.
• MOVE (Modernizing Opportunities for Vision Zero and Enhanced Mobility) MOVE is a web-based mapping tool developed for the City of Toronto that consolidates traffic volume and collision data to help staff assess road safety requests, identify collision hotspots, and support Vision Zero initiatives.
• Kiujuk App

Quantifiable outcome

• IBM reports that building accessibility into design stages can create a 30x cost reduction compared with making accessibility fixes in post-production.

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Nova Scotia GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNova Scotia is a provincial government partner of Code for Canada. The partnership has included options analysis for legacy technology replacement, creation of an evergreen change management playbook, and collaborative work on digital service modernization including a self check-in application during crisis situations.
• Government of AlbertacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlberta is a provincial government partner working with Code for Canada on digital accessibility and UX improvements. Code for Canada has collaborated with Alberta on usability testing accessibility and accessibility strategy, including work on Alberta.ca's sign-up process.
• Government of British Columbia (BC Public Service)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBC is a provincial government partner engaged with Code for Canada's Inclusive User Research program. Projects include usability testing for Health Gateway 2.0 to help BC residents find family doctors, with testing conducted across a diverse group of BC residents.
• Government of OntariocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOntario is a provincial government partner of Code for Canada, engaged in digital service improvement initiatives.
• RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe RCMP National Cybercrime Coordination Centre (NC3) partnered with Code for Canada to explore an AI model to reduce the time it takes Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre staff to assess fraud and cybercrime reports. Code for Canada conducted interviews, workshops, and created a prototype that the RCMP data team is now developing further.
• Kativik Regional Government (KRG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSince late 2023, Code for Canada has been working with KRG in Northern Quebec to develop a digital tool called Kiujuk to improve water and sewage delivery for remote communities. The partnership has involved user research, co-design, and iterative prototype development with the community.
• TransLink (Metro Vancouver)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTransLink is a municipal government partner engaged with Code for Canada's Inclusive User Research program, focusing on digital accessibility improvements for public transit digital services.
• Grey CountyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrey County is a municipal government partner that has worked with Code for Canada to understand how to leverage AI to improve public services.
• Peel Newcomer Strategy GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeel Newcomer Strategy Group is a municipal partner that has engaged with Code for Canada for options analysis on digital service needs.
• City of TorontocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerToronto is a municipal government partner that has engaged Code for Canada for usability testing to improve its shelter intake system (SMIS), modernization of legacy data systems, and transformation of road safety data access (MOVE project).
• City of KingstonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity of Kingston has partnered with Code for Canada for user research to better understand the needs of its residents.
• National Defence (Digital Services Group)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanada's National Defence Digital Services Group worked with Code for Canada to introduce service blueprints for digital transformation, helping map and visualize the department's software procurement intake process and service delivery operations.
• Global Affairs CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal Affairs Canada has partnered with Code for Canada for digital transformation support. A Code for Canada team worked with the department to introduce transformative ideas and build skills and methodologies that the department can continue using independently.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Accenture Federal Services: Global consultancy's federal arm that delivers large-scale digital modernization, citizen experience, and IT modernization for government. Competes for the same federal digital service contracts Code for Canada targets, but at much larger scale and scope.
• Slalom: Large consulting firm with a dedicated Public Sector practice delivering digital transformation, user research, and modern software delivery to government clients. Competes for similar Canadian and U.S. government modernization engagements but as a broader consultancy.
• Thoughtworks: Global technology consultancy with strong public-sector practice offering digital strategy, agile delivery, and user experience services. Overlaps with Code for Canada's collaborative development and digital modernization work, but operates across many verticals at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• Public Digital: UK-headquartered consultancy that helps governments build digital capacity and deliver digital services. Closely comparable in its options-analysis, capability-building, and embedded-team offerings aimed at public-sector digital transformation.
• 18F (U.S. General Services Administration): U.S. federal digital services team embedded within government that builds and buys digital services using agile, user-centred methods. Direct mission peer for embedded, in-house digital delivery for federal partners.
• U.S. Digital Service (USDS): U.S. federal team that embeds technologists inside federal agencies to modernize critical public services. Direct mission peer for high-impact digital transformation in federal government contexts like Code for Canada's RCMP and Global Affairs Canada work.
• Nava Public Benefit Corporation: Public benefit corporation that builds digital services for government agencies (e.g., healthcare, public benefits). Operates with a similar human-centred design and embedded-team model, targeting the same federal/state digital service modernization opportunity as Code for Canada.
• Code for America: U.S. civic tech non-profit with a near-identical mission: partnering with governments to deliver digital services that work for everyone. Closest direct peer in model, customer base (government), and service lines (research, design, engineering support for public sector).

Others

• Nesta: UK innovation foundation running civic and government innovation programs, including digital government experimentation. Thematically adjacent — shares the mission of using innovation to improve public services — but operates as a funder/research entity rather than service provider.
• The GovLab: NYU-based action research lab focused on how technology can improve governance and strengthen public institutions. Adjacent ecosystem player that conducts research, convenes practitioners, and shapes the civic tech field in which Code for Canada operates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/code4ca
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/code-for-canada
• Xx.com/code4ca

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Code for Canada