Laurence Sotsky, Founder and CEO of Incentify – Interview Series

Laurence Sotsky is Incentify's CEO and oversees all business and technical operations. He is a seasoned technology executive with extensive experience leading high-growth companies and driving innovation in the SaaS application sector. As an accomplished CEO, he has successfully built and managed high-performing organizations, has extensive international experience and has led three prior organizations to successful exits.

Before Incentify, Laurence was the CEO and Founder of Hopscotch, a venture-backed SaaS platform specializing in mobile application development for the sports and entertainment industry.

Incentify is a software platform that helps organizations manage and optimize their tax credits and incentives (C&I) at scale. It offers tools for identifying, tracking, and maximizing federal, state, and local incentives, including those related to hiring, capital investments, and sustainability. The platform integrates with enterprise systems to streamline compliance and reporting, aiming to uncover missed opportunities and drive measurable financial impact.

What does Incentify do, and how does your platform help businesses unlock and manage tax credits and incentives?

Incentify is the leading software platform for discovering, optimizing, and managing tax credits and incentives (C&I). Our AI-powered suite enables corporations, advisors, and accounting firms to fully realize the value of incentive portfolios—without drowning in complexity. Whether you’re identifying credits, managing compliance workflows, or scaling across hundreds of locations, Incentify turns what was once a manual, opaque process into a streamlined, data-driven advantage.

How much capital is currently going unclaimed in the tax credit and incentive (C&I) space, and why is this such a widespread issue?

According to White House estimates, more than $140 billion in federal tax incentives go unclaimed each year—never even applied for. And that’s just the beginning. When you factor in missed opportunities at the state and local levels, and incentives left on the table due to compliance breakdowns, the total climbs to multiple hundreds of billions annually. Most organizations lack the systems and expertise to navigate a constantly evolving C&I landscape.

Which industries or types of companies are best positioned to benefit from Incentify’s platform?

While virtually every business has access to some form of incentives, the largest gains typically come from three categories:

1. Labor incentives, for companies hiring or expanding their workforce
2. Environmental incentives, especially those focused on clean energy and retrofits
3. Capital expenditure incentives, for organizations investing in infrastructure or R&D

Industries like film, semiconductors, manufacturing, and logistics tend to see outsized benefits—but we’re seeing increasing relevance across professional services, healthcare, and tech as well.

What makes tax credit and incentive management particularly complex without software like Incentify? 

Incentives aren’t automatically granted—they’re earned through strict compliance. Once a credit is identified, companies must meet ongoing documentation, employment, and capital thresholds to qualify. Doing this manually is risky and resource-intensive. Incentify replaces ad hoc processes with automated workflows: each program’s requirements are preloaded, responsible parties are assigned, and the system monitors progress—alerting organizations to gaps before they become compliance failures.

How does Incentify use AI to discover and manage incentives more efficiently than traditional methods?

At the heart of Incentify is a private large language model trained specifically on the tax incentive corpus—billions of dollars' worth of programs spanning federal, state, and soon municipal levels. Our platform continuously scrapes, interprets, and updates this data in real time. Features like Chat With a Program and Leia, our embedded AI assistant, allow users to interact directly with incentive programs, receive instant guidance, and explore options conversationally.

AI also powers automatic recommendations tailored to company size, industry, and geography—replacing outdated methods with intelligent automation.

Why are corporations, especially CFOs, increasingly turning to tax credits and incentives as a source of capital?

We’re seeing a real shift in how CFOs think about tax credits and incentives. What used to be considered a nice-to-have—too complex, too cumbersome—is now being treated as a serious, strategic source of capital. Specifically, non-dilutive capital that can fund key initiatives without taking on debt or giving up equity.

At the same time, the incentive landscape has expanded dramatically, particularly in areas like clean energy, R&D, and workforce development. These programs aren’t just financial bonuses—they directly align with corporate priorities. And thanks to technology like Incentify, identifying and managing these programs is finally efficient, scalable, and transparent. This isn’t about exploiting tax loopholes—it’s about unlocking capital that was already meant to be used for growth.

What safeguards or compliance features are built into the platform to reduce risk from audits, misfilings, or clawbacks?

Our Optimize product was designed specifically to safeguard against these risks. Once an incentive is loaded into the platform, the key compliance events are mapped out, and the appropriate stakeholders are tagged. If something goes missing—like a form that isn’t filed or a requirement that isn’t met—the system automatically flags it for managers.

We’ve seen business units go from a 40% success rate on incentive compliance to 100% after adopting Incentify.  By embedding accountability into the system, we turn compliance from a liability into a competitive advantage.

Incentify recently raised a $9.5 million Series A. What are your priorities for this capital over the next year? 

This round is all about fueling the next stage of our growth across five major fronts.

1. First, we’re doubling down on product innovation—especially within Incentify Explore—to make it even easier for users to find and unlock incentives. That includes deep investments in our AI infrastructure, which powers both how we curate data and how we communicate it to users.
2. Second, we’re focused on technical velocity. In a market moving this fast, continuing to build on our engineering team is critical. Bringing in additional top-tier talent will help us accelerate delivery and continue shipping high-quality features at scale.
3. Third, we’re putting serious weight behind sales and marketing. Our platform serves Fortune 500s, advisors, and SMBs alike, and this funding enables us to tell our story across all those segments more effectively.
4. Fourth, data. We’ve already built what we believe is the most comprehensive commercial and industrial incentives dataset in North America—and now we’re expanding that reach globally.
5. And finally, partnerships. We’ve been quietly developing relationships with some of the world’s largest players, and this capital allows us to support and scale those partnerships with the resources they deserve.
6. What opportunities do you see for scaling the platform across enterprise and mid-market segments?

As our AI improves, so does scalability. Mid-market businesses don’t have teams of tax attorneys—and they shouldn’t need them to access public funding. Our platform levels the playing field by automating discovery, guiding eligibility, and simplifying compliance. On the enterprise side, we’re seeing multi-billion-dollar companies centralize their entire incentive strategy through Incentify. The goal is the same: eliminate friction, maximize capture.

What’s your long-term vision for Incentify and the role it plays in the corporate finance ecosystem? 

Our long-term vision is for Incentify to be the operating system of the C&I economy. Every company, every advisor, every government agency—collaborating, tracking, and delivering incentives through a single, connected ecosystem. We want to make incentive discovery, application, compliance, and reporting effortless and accessible—no matter the complexity, jurisdiction, or industry. Ultimately, we’re here to ensure that no opportunity is lost, no compliance is missed, and every dollar of public funding does the work it was meant to do.

Thank you for the great inteview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Incentify. 

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