Monthly Client Update

BigGeo

Prepared by Inflection Venture Partners · Embedded Growth Capital Advisory

Grants & SR&ED · Defence & Dual-Use

📋 Recap

The first NRC IRAP ICAP claim is paid. $2,600 was approved and direct deposit landed October 2 — the first money through the door against the $49,515 award.
The CENGN Living Labs direction is settled after working through it with Prashant and Brett. The proposal goes forward as a four-part stack — SkyScout on hardware, sensors and detection, Spexi on drone imagery, BigGeo on the spatial cloud and AI layer, and ThinkON on Canadian sovereign bare metal — targeting a summer 2027 test start at roughly $250,000 in R&D cost and about sixty days to go live.
The Wine Growers of Canada framing is landing well with BC and federal contacts as a policy case on wildfire management, food security and Canadian sovereignty rather than a pure technology pitch.
We defined the Alberta Innovates play around the S&P Global relationship: bringing the offshore data-services layer back into Alberta. The target shape is a $1,500,000 project with S&P contributing $750,000 and BigGeo matching through Alberta Innovates at 50% up to $750,000.
The PrairiesCan RAII expression of interest is drafted. PrairiesCan confirmed to us directly that RAII expressions of interest can be filed even where a BSP application is under review, which removes the blocker we had been working around.
The October 9 funding scan is delivered. It confirms Alberta Innovates Strategic Industries at 50% up to $750,000 on continuous intake with a two-to-four week expression-of-interest decision, and establishes that CENGN Living Labs funds external validation and testing rather than R&D — a distinction that changes how the proposal has to be written.
New defence items surfaced: the IDEaS Radio Data Fusion for Command and Control call (up to $250,000 at TRL 1–3, $1,500,000 at TRL 4–5, $5,000,000 at TRL 6–9), NRC IRAP Defence Industry Assist against a $241,000,000 program on continuous intake, and the SSC Sovereign Public Cloud SMB-only requirement to watch on CanadaBuys.
PrairiesCan RDII is confirmed as interest-free at up to 75% of eligible costs, with projects required to complete by March 31, 2028.

🔭 Outlook

By Monday October 12 — a go or no-go on the IDEaS Radio Data Fusion call. We are confirming the exact closing date with the program before committing, and weighing it against the three IDEaS files already pending.
Mid-to-late October — the CENGN Living Labs full proposal, worth up to $500,000. We are confirming the submission date with CENGN directly rather than working from the published guidance.
Immediately — the Alberta Innovates Strategic Industries teaser memo and then the expression of interest, off the back of the S&P conversation. Two things to settle as we build it: that S&P's cash qualifies as the 50% match, and that the commercial contract stays cleanly separate from the funded R&D scope.
October 15 — our next biweekly, with the pipeline review against the items above.
October 21 — the ISC Minerva uncrewed aircraft deconfliction challenge closes.
October 30 — Innovate BC Early-Stage Demonstration Call, up to 40% to a maximum of $500,000. We are asking Innovate BC whether a non-BC provider can be a funded partner through SkyScout.
Mid-to-late October — the Elevate IP decision is expected, two to four weeks on from the September 30 submission at the $25,000 program maximum. IDEaS and Calian Ventures decisions are also outstanding.
Next two weeks — calls with the NRC IRAP advisor on Defence Industry Assist, and with PrairiesCan on both RDII and RAII.
Week of November 9 — the IAC round opens; we file the $10,000 IP funding application against recent trademark spend.
We will come back on Engagement Amendment No. 1 with the cost cap worked through, so the paper matches what is already in effect from October 1.

📝 Notes

Two items still gate future applications: the consulting documentation NRC IRAP has asked for needs to exist on paper, and we need access to the material held in your PandaDoc room so the funding files can be built without going back to you for each document. Separately, the October 9 scan flags a CCPC status question for SR&ED given the seed round and investor ownership — worth confirming before the FY2026 claim is modelled.