CEO & Co-founder at Taxnova
George Nichkov
Founder of Taxnova — helping engineering teams focus on R&D, not R&D tax. Taxnova bridges the worlds of finance and engineering which is perfect reflection of my background: education in economics & finance (UCL, CFA) and career in B2B product, analytics, and consulting (Gett, Oliver Wyman).
Questions & Answers
What inspired you to start your business?
I went through an R&D tax claim as a product leader at Gett and was struck by how broken the process was. Despite paying advisors a significant fee, most of the work still fell on engineering teams, with months of manual data chasing and little automation. It was hard to reconcile how innovation funding – meant to support cutting-edge companies – was still run on processes that hadn’t meaningfully changed in decades. Taxnova started as the tool I wished had existed the first time I had to do a claim.
What sets you apart from others in your industry?
The R&D tax industry is dominated by advisory firms that provide good advice but rely on slow, manual, and poorly designed processes. We approached the problem from first principles, starting with the company’s source data rather than interviews and spreadsheets. Taxnova is AI-first by design: we connect directly to engineering and finance systems, automatically identify eligible work, and generate evidence-linked outputs in days. This removes the project-management burden from engineering teams and turns R&D tax from a recurring nightmare into a lightweight, repeatable workflow.
Why are you excited about your company/product?
What excites me about Taxnova is using AI leverage in an industry that has barely changed in decades. We’re freeing engineers from work they don’t enjoy or add value to, while giving finance teams real visibility into R&D activity and access to innovation funding across borders. It’s rare to work on a product that simultaneously improves developer experience, financial clarity, and compliance.
