Munich tax startup Skalar raises €12M seed from Lakestar, Forthright, others; AI-first tax automation

Skalar, a Munich-based AI tax and accounting startup, has raised €12 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding. Investors include Lakestar, Forthright, VC&, and others, as disclosed in Sifted's exclusive. Founder Björn Goss, who previously sold a startup to Klarna for €110 million, is building Skalar as a tech-first tax firm targeting SMEs with automated compliance and advisory services.

Goss is automating workflows that SMEs traditionally outsource: multi-jurisdiction tax compliance, accounting, and audit. The company is pitching itself as the "autopilot" for tax—reducing manual data entry that dominates 90% of small and mid-sized accounting firms. Skalar combines tax expertise with modern AI tooling to handle edge cases, multi-country rules, and continuous compliance monitoring that would otherwise require hiring traditional accountants.

This is a play on the deflationary power of AI in professional services. German tax services are historically high-friction and labor-intensive; Skalar's bet is that synthetic reasoning can handle complexity (deductions, cross-border regs, audit defense) at scale. Goss's Klarna exit signals serious founder pedigree, and the round size suggests investors see a defensible market in European SME compliance—where regulatory complexity and labor costs remain sticky.