Securing the CIR …
Benjamin Néel, founder of LabOxy and a biologist with a degree from the Ecole Normale Supérieur (ENS – Lyon), has been confronted in his research work, notably at the CEA, with the headache of R&D financing, and its often haphazard and artisanal management. This experience gave rise to the idea of developing Laboxy, a web-based application platform that can be consulted via a web browser, to manage the Research Tax Credit (CIR).
LabOxy has positioned itself not as a consulting firm and/or expert in innovation financing, but as a tool, born of user experience, to simplify and secure CIR files, notably thanks to a Timesheets application that enables quantitative and qualitative collection of hours spent on a given project, for a given user, in a far more efficient way than the traditional Excel spreadsheet! The whole package makes it possible to compile and collate the supporting documents needed to build up the Research Tax Credit (CIR) as the year progresses, and even to calculate the CIR and produce accounting vouchers. Founded in May 2014, LabOxy is growing exponentially and already employs 5 people.
… AuCIRmulator, the free Research Tax Credit simulator
As part of the development of their offer, LabOxy has developed a tool to simulate the calculation of the Research Tax Credit (CIR): the CIRmulator. This tool can be used to calculate the amount of CIR that will be reimbursed, to analyze the financing plan and reimbursement for each line of expenditure, and to understand which expenses are heavily subsidized, which are less subsidized and which are capped.
Once in use, the co-founders realized the potential of this simulator, not just as a service and loss leader, but as a tool for democratizing and demystifying the tax system. Deliberately made available free of charge to professionals and the general public alike, CIRmulator is designed to educate, and also to contradict certain preconceived ideas. For example, the CIR is not a reimbursement of 30% of R&D expenditure; it varies according to the nature of the R&D expenditure and the location of the company, with a rate varying from 0% to 200% of the amount of expenditure.
Launch and presentation at CES 2016 in Las Vegas
As part of its launch, LabOxy took part in and won the “PitchUp” competition organized by Openîmes Métropole, Nîmes’ economic development agency, whose prize was to attend the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas under the French Tech banner. An event like this, and the excellent mobilization of the French Tech community, means that for one week, the usual hierarchical barriers are broken down, and access is gained to personalities who would otherwise be inaccessible. LabOxy was thus able to present the CIRmulator to Mr. Emmanuel Macron, who was seduced by the concept, and expressed his wish to see it spread within the administration and business sectors. Let’s hope so!
CIRmulator will be officially launched on February 1. As a preview, LabOxy is making this tool available to Syntec Numérique members today. We’d like to thank them for their support.
