An agile platform to adapt to changing regulations. A team of R&D tax claim and sector specialist: ex-HMRC, ATT qualified, AML trained, AML registered and supervised by HMRC.
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You're claiming R&D tax relief.
Most fintech companies are claiming. Fewer can explain every line under enquiry — not because they've done anything wrong, but because the process had gaps they were never shown.
Compliant and defensible are not the same thing.
Most CFOs signing off an R&D claim have never seen the full technical narrative it's based on. They've approved the numbers. They've received the credits. But if HMRC asked them to walk through the technical basis — what qualified, why, and how the costs were apportioned — they'd be relying on a document they didn't write, built through a process they couldn't see.
That's not negligence. It's how traditional R&D advisory works. Information gathered through interviews, gaps filled with what the adviser knows HMRC will accept, report written and submitted. Compliant, very often. Defensible — that's a different question. And it's the one HMRC is increasingly asking.
Check if your claim is defensible →It rewards evidence.
Evidence of genuine technical uncertainty. Evidence of systematic investigation. Evidence that costs are real, apportioned correctly, and yours to claim. That's what a defensible R&D claim is built on — and it requires a different kind of process to produce.
The specialists who build it. The platform that makes it visible.
EmpowerRD combines a CTA and ATT-qualified tax team, PhD-level technical consultants who engage with your engineers at peer level, and a five-stage review process that scores every claim for clarity, strength and risk before anything reaches HMRC.
Every stage runs through our platform — so every cost, every narrative decision, every edit is logged and visible to you in real time. You're not trusting a process you can't see. You're watching it happen.
Nothing is outsourced. The people who built your claim are the people who can defend it. HMRC enquiry support is included as standard.
Meet the full team →ATT
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What fintech companies at your stage actually spend
Our dataset covers 35 UK fintech companies and 58 audited claims — drawn from real claims, not surveys. It tells us exactly what companies at your stage spend on R&D, and where they're most likely leaving qualifying costs uncaptured.
Explore the full benchmark →Most companies that switch aren't in a crisis. They just started asking questions.
A company came to us after their previous provider took over 100 hours of engineering time, refused to share the claim they'd built, submitted it without the client's full knowledge — and then went quiet when HMRC raised an enquiry. The company dealt with HMRC themselves. Four months to receive their credits.
That's an extreme case. But the underlying dynamic — a claim built through a process the client couldn't see — is more common than most CFOs realise.
If any of these give you pause, it's worth a conversation.
At Penfold, we're trying to create a pension solution that removes complexity and confusion for our customers. After speaking with EmpowerRD and seeing their platform, we knew we'd found a partner doing the same in their respective space.
Penfold: 5 defensible claims in a regulated fintech environment
Penfold builds pension infrastructure for the self-employed and workplace market — technically complex, tightly regulated, where R&D eligibility is not straightforward. Five claims with EmpowerRD. None subject to HMRC enquiry.
Fintech R&D is not one category.
The specialists are here.
Is your claim built to match?
A 20-minute call with one of our fintech specialists will tell you whether your current claim is as strong as it should be — and where the gaps are most likely to be. We'll tell you honestly if we can add value. If we can't, we'll say so.
No obligation. No pitch. A straight answer from people who know this space.
EmpowerRD · 1,300+ companies since 2017 · Sub-5% all-time HMRC enquiry rate · CTA and ATT-qualified tax team · PhD technical consultants · Enquiry support included · Nothing outsourced
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For fintech CFOs, Financial Controllers and founders. Free, no-obligation.