ABOUT PUBLICUS
Setting government data free
Government procurement data is public by law but trapped in practice. Thousands of contracts, tenders, and awards are scattered across portals, buried in PDFs, and locked inside systems that were never meant to support usable market intelligence.
Decades of digital transformation projects tried to fix this. Massive ERP implementations. Multi-year modernization programs. But this is no one's fault specifically: government tech debt is serious, change management is difficult, and data transformation and engineering are expensive. Even after major investment, the data often stayed trapped.
We believe AI changes the equation. Not by replacing the systems governments already have, but by reading, structuring, and connecting the data that already exists across them. Publicus is the intelligence layer that sits on top of government procurement infrastructure and makes it useful.
Purpose-built for government
Publicus wasn't adapted for government. It was built for government from day one. Every AI model, every data pipeline, every product decision starts with the same question: does this make government procurement teams and the vendors who support them more effective?
We started with procurement because it touches every department, involves enormous sums of public money, and the data needed to make better decisions already exists. It's just never been brought together. But procurement is the beginning, not the end. The same approach that frees procurement data can free all government data: contracts, permits, case files, policy documents, service records. Our long-term mission is to give civil servants the tools and data access they need to build their own solutions, on their own terms, without waiting years for the next platform transformation.
THE TEAM
Founders obsessed with this problem
Joe comes from the government and public-sector side. Akash comes from the AI and product side. Publicus exists because both perspectives are needed to build software that actually works here.
Joe Noss
Co-founder and CEO
I have worked at the intersection of tech, government, policy, and data all my life. I am obsessed with making government work for people, and am always interested in chatting more with those who feel the same.
- •Previously: Government digital transformation at Deloitte
- •At Publicus: Leads government relationships, business strategy, and product vision
Akash Shetty
Co-founder and CTO
Built the platform architecture, data pipelines, and AI models that process millions of procurement records across 200+ government sources from the ground up.
- •Previously: Ads and ML products at Loblaw Digital, building AI systems at scale
- •At Publicus: Leads engineering, infrastructure, and product development
How we got here
We met at a coding boot camp and started talking about the gap between what government technology could be and what it actually is. Joe had seen it from the inside at Deloitte: transformation projects that took years and cost millions, while the people doing the work were still stuck with fragmented data, brittle workflows, and systems layered on top of systems from decades ago. Akash had built products at Loblaw Digital that served millions of users and knew what modern, well-built software looked like.
The thesis was simple: the reason government technology is so hard to modernize is rarely a lack of effort or talent. It is data. Data locked in 1980s-era systems. Data spread across PDFs, exports, forms, and legacy databases. Data shaped by years of tech debt, policy constraints, and incremental change. AI finally changes that equation. It can structure the unstructured, connect records across disconnected systems, and turn messy operational data into something usable for entirely new products and workflows.
We started with procurement because it's the clearest proof point. Public data, obvious pain, measurable value. If we can make procurement intelligence dramatically better and dramatically cheaper, we can do the same for other categories of government data. The long-term goal is bigger than one workflow: give governments the ability to build on top of their own data, move faster, and shape their own future instead of waiting for the next massive transformation program.
We believe government deserves 10x better software at 10x lower cost. The technology to deliver that finally exists. That's our mission, and that's what we're building toward.
GOVERNMENT CREDENTIALS
Qualified to work with the Government of Canada
Innovative Solutions Canada
Qualified through Innovative Solutions Canada, which means any federal department can work with us by issuing a scope of work to use our innovation for data processing.
PSPC Engagement
We've worked with Public Services and Procurement Canada to provide analytics on Canadian vendor ownership.
AI Source List
Listed on the Government of Canada AI Source List as a qualified provider of Artificial Intelligence Services. If you want to work with us for a project, this is a pathway.
The data behind the platform
200+
Procurement portals monitored
10M+
Records processed and structured
60+
Organizations using Publicus
4,340
Public buyers included in the data
FAQ
Common questions
Can't find what you're looking for? Reach out at joe@publicus.ai
Who is Publicus for?
Two audiences. Vendors who need to find and win government work across Canada, and government teams who need better visibility into spending, vendors, pricing, and renewals.
Is Publicus a Canadian company?
Yes. Publicus is Canadian-founded and Canadian-operated, with Canadian cloud infrastructure. We are part of Innovative Solutions Canada and listed on the AI Source List.
Why start with procurement?
Procurement is the clearest proof point: public data, obvious pain, and measurable value. If we can make procurement intelligence dramatically better and dramatically cheaper, the same approach can apply to many other categories of government data.
What makes Publicus different from a consulting engagement?
Consulting can answer a question once. Publicus is software that keeps the intelligence current. The goal is not a one-time report, but a durable layer that governments and vendors can keep using as the market changes.
How many organizations use Publicus?
Hundreds of organizations use Publicus today, from solo consultants to larger firms and government teams. The platform also covers 27K+ vendors and 4,340 public buyers across Canada.
What is the long-term mission?
To give governments the tools and data access they need to build their own solutions on top of the systems and records they already have, without waiting years for the next platform transformation.