Claimer, when GovTech raises funds

GovTech, the sector of activity that puts new technologies at the service of government, is attracting growing interest from investors. This is at least what the latest round of funding by Claimer, a British specialist in the sector, demonstrates. This start-up intends to use its new investments to shed light on its avant-garde offer.

FACTS

• Claimer has raised $4.2 million from Project A Ventures, with participation from Moonfire Ventures, helloworld.vc and a group of business angels.

• GovTech supports a service that can reinvent access to financial incentives and government support (tax credits, grants or other local tax breaks). It is this service that is now attracting interest from investors.

• Claimer helps innovative companies and start-ups to access UK tax credits and R&D grants more easily and quickly (in about 10 minutes).

• It relies on a strong technology platform and human expertise to deliver its service.

• Claimer charges a 5% fee (up to a maximum of £10,000) on the funds recovered by its clients through its service.

• Claimer says it has already helped 350 start-ups access this support since it started. The company has also successfully filed over 700 claims for its clients and is aiming to grow fourfold annually by the end of 2022. To achieve this, it intends to conquer a new market, after the UK.

CHALLENGES

• Simplifying administrative procedures: GovTech Claimer is therefore addressing its counterparts to help them access the funding to which they are entitled but whose access is compromised by complex and time-consuming procedures or by a lack of information on eligibility criteria, for example.

• On the GovTech opportunity: Claimer's new round of funding highlights the potential of government technology initiatives. The GovTech market has great potential, reaching €20 billion in France by 2024 and £20 billion in the UK by 2025, according to figures presented at the GovTech Summit in 2018.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Like FinTech at the time for the financial sector, GovTech has been touted by some observers and players as the future of the public sector. The truth is, as always, nuanced.

• In 2019, the Great National Debate revealed that 74% of the French people questioned expressed digital needs above all for access to certain public services. A digital transformation is indeed necessary to meet new needs and uses and to adapt to the new tools available to citizens.

• But the agility of start-ups should not hide the challenges, particularly in terms of security, of a sector as formal as government services.