mika

mika sells itself as an AI alternative to the German Steuerberater, which is a bolder claim in Germany than it would be elsewhere given how much of bookkeeping there is bound up in regulated advice. The company is careful to stop short of the regulated work it cannot do.

What it does well. The human review model is the strongest part of the proposition: mika says qualified accountants check the books several times a month rather than at year end, which catches errors while they are still cheap to fix. ELSTER submission of the advance VAT return removes the single most tedious recurring German compliance task. SKR 03 and SKR 04 support and a DATEV export mean the output lands in a form an existing tax adviser can actually use, so it can slot alongside a firm rather than only replacing one. The fresh EUR 6 million seed round gives it some runway.

Where it falls short. The savings figures are mika's own and unverified: up to 80% less time, 50% lower costs, up to EUR 800 a month in recovered VAT and 98% document recognition accuracy all come from the vendor. Scope is deliberately narrow, covering German GmbHs and UGs only, with stated limits of roughly 30 employees and 500 transactions a month, so it is no use to anyone outside that box. Pricing is quoted from EUR 49 a month but varies by volume and requires an individual offer, which makes comparison hard. The All Inclusive tier depends on a partner tax adviser network rather than on mika itself, and more than 800 customers is still a small base.

Best for. Small German GmbHs and UGs without a finance function, and UK or US firms with German subsidiary clients who need local compliance handled without appointing a full Steuerkanzlei.

Verdict. A well-scoped German compliance tool with a sensible human-in-the-loop design, let down only by savings claims nobody outside the company has checked.