Vivid Money Launches AI Employees to Tackle the €61 Billion Productivity Gap in SMEs

Vivid Money, the European financial platform for SMEs and freelancers, today launches its AI-powered Digital Employees to empower European SMEs. With the new AI assistants, companies can increase their productivity by 1.3x1, save up to 13 hours of productive time per week2, and reduce monthly operating costs by up to €4,0003.

The €61 Billion Productivity Dilemma of SMEs

In Germany, small and medium-sized enterprises spend an average of seven percent of their working time on administrative routine tasks – for solo self-employed individuals, it’s as high as 8.7 percent. This equates to 32 hours per month per company, or almost two full days that are missing for strategic tasks and growth. A recent study by KfW quantifies the annual labor costs for bureaucratic processes in German SMEs at €61 billion.4

This challenge extends across Europe: 55% of European SMEs identify regulatory obstacles and administrative burden as their biggest problem⁵ – ranking it as the top challenge facing small businesses, ahead of payment delays, access to finance, and skills shortages. While this data dates from 2020 and no more recent comprehensive EU-wide measurements exist, the issue has only intensified as regulatory requirements have continued to expand.

“This year we have already launched treasury, tax solutions, travel management, and card terminals – and now our Digital Employees. This speed has a clear reason: German SMEs urgently need relief. With every innovation we bring to market, we make Germany more attractive and competitive as a location for entrepreneurs,” explains Alexander Emeshev, Co-Founder of Vivid Money.

“Digital Employees are the next logical step – they give freelancers and SMEs the resources of large corporations, without their fixed costs.”

The Solution: Three Specialized AI Assistants

AI copilots are becoming commonplace — but Vivid is taking it a step further by packaging them as digital employees with clear roles and responsibilities. It’s a strategic move to turn generative AI into tangible productivity gains for small businesses, not just abstract potential.

Vivid Money launches three specialized AI assistants that work and communicate like real employees:

Anna (AI Personal assistant): organizes meetings, manages schedules, drafts emails, and plans workflows. Anna helps structure the workday and ensures no important appointments are missed.

Lucas (AI Legal associate): supports contract drafting, document review, and legal structure checks based on a growing library of over 80 templates. Lucas can analyze contracts, point out potential risks, and prepare standard documents.*

Emma (AI Finance assistant, coming soon): will handle financial reporting and cashflow management. Emma will help keep track of financial metrics and plan liquidity.*

The Digital Employees work with documents, communicate like real colleagues, connect with existing tools, and use company data securely to deliver faster results. They can be reached via text and even have their own dedicated email address — just like a real employee.