This morning we received word that Aptli has been approved for funding through the Ontario Centre of Innovation's CIT — Development and Commercialization (DC) Program, for our work on AI-enhanced infrastructure construction management.

A few hours later, we signed our first commercial trial.

We've been building toward this for a while, and you don't get many days like this. Two pieces of validation landing within hours of each other — one from the public-sector side that requires deep diligence to win, and one from the market side that requires a customer to actually open their checkbook — is the kind of timing you couldn't engineer if you tried.

On the OCI Process

Innovation funding programs sometimes get a reputation for being opaque or slow. What we found was different: rigorous, yes, but in the best sense — the questions sharpened our own thinking about what we were building and why. Particular thanks to Toyosi Bakare, our Program Manager, and to Robert McMillan and Laura Clark on the OCI team. The diligence they brought to this file made it a better project, not just a funded one.

On the People Who Got Us Here

A separate but equally important thank you to Joco Amante, whose guidance and early belief in this work helped shape the path that led to today. The work ahead traces back to conversations and connections that started well before this approval. There's no version of this announcement that pretends we got here alone.

On What's Next

This is the part that actually matters. The OCI backing gives us the runway to do the work properly — to invest in the security, scalability, and AI capabilities that will make Aptli production-grade for the customers we want to serve. The trial we signed today, kicking off at the end of the month, is our first chance to put it all into practice with real users in the field. More to share as that work unfolds.

Thanks to everyone in our corner. Now, back to building.

— Edward Young Chief Technology Officer, Aptli