Within the first 18 months of operation, Aussie Research and Development (R&D) consultancy BourkeHood has helped more than 180 international clients claim over $30M in R&D funding. This success was reached even during the most intense period of the COVID outbreak. BourkeHood owner and CEO Jason Hood built the company from scratch and scaled with incredible speed.

BourkeHood grew into BourkeHood Group, with a global presence in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand, reaching 7 figures in revenues the first financial year and offering a variety of products, including an R&D lending facility.

Jason has a background in finance and sales, and a history of working in the R&D sector in the UK. He returned to Australia in 2019 to start BourkeHood - with no external investment. Jason was driven by his passion for helping business owners and startups get funding to grow their businesses.

In the very beginning, BourkeHood grew by prioritising sales and backing it up with excellent outcomes for their clients. Jason knew that he could get the best for his clients so he created referral programs and partnership strategies.

‘Once we had enough connections in the startup ecosystem it snowballed from there - and people of course wanted to talk to us and work with us as we would help them get funding support. We pride ourselves as an R&D funding specialist and use the expertise of our consultants to highlight this,’ explains Jason.

With demand growing so quickly it was sometimes a balancing act for Jason and the BourkeHood team. Jason assembled a team of specialists in the R&D incentive with over 30+ years combined experience in the claiming process. Their skill, as well as the firm’s narrow specialisation in the R&D Tax Schemes alone, allowed BourkeHood to develop a robust, efficient process with a unique methodology that without fail has kept the success rate intact at 100% since the very start.

‘It’s been incredible to experience such fast growth and success,’ says Jason. ‘I literally started out by helping the people around me to get their businesses up and running or ideas funded, and it all unfolded from there.’

BourkeHood helps startups and companies who are working on new or improved products, services, processes, materials, devices and more. BourkeHood educates founders that R&D is much broader than what most people think and that it can occur in any sector, from agriculture through to food processing to dentistry.

Success stories from BourkeHood include helping; an EdTech company obtain 400k in R&D funding, helping a manufacturing company obtain 380k in R&D funding and helping a media and telecommunications company obtain 45k in R&D funding. These are just a few of the many successes that BourkeHood has achieved for clients. Access to these funds allows clients to design new software, develop new digital or non digital technologies, develop new products or adapt existing products. Funding can cover costs such as the purchase of equipment, staff salaries, insurance, rent, website fees and associated travel.

BourkeHood sets itself apart from other R&D Tax Incentive firms and organisations by creating a unilateral focus on R&D with targeted expertise. In general R&D claims need to be done thoroughly otherwise the claimer can be exposed to the risk of an audit and an even longer process trying to obtain the benefit. The team at BourkeHood is made up of experts with experience not just in the financial R&D tax landscape, but also with the right technical background. Expert areas range from Biotech scientists, engineers, software developers, and more. All are able to effectively uplift the claims by looking at some of the grey areas of claiming whilst ensuring an excellent understanding of the requirements for claiming.

‘More and more startups and business ventures are turning to R&D, the funding can be an absolute game-changer for the organisation. A successful R&D claim can literally be the difference between the product going ahead or not. It’s an incredible opportunity for the client, as well as for the public, who reap the benefits of new or improved technologies.’

When thinking about the future, Jason has big plans for the BourkeHood Group. ‘We are looking to scale as big and fast as possible globally - covering the R&D schemes in different countries. Also to continue to build BourkeHood Group to become a one-stop-shop funding solution for innovative companies. Not just the R&D Consultancy, an Online Platform for claims management, and a venture fund.’ Jason is determined to continue in his mission to help business founders grow - not just in Australia, but globally.