AIGuarda — EU AI Act Compliance-as-a-Service for SMBs
The EU AI Act is now active, with high-risk AI system requirements fully applicable by August 2, 2026. Any business using AI for hiring, credit scoring, healthcare, education, law enforcement, or critical infrastructure must comply or face fines up to €35M or 7% of global revenue.
The Problem
The EU AI Act is now active, with high-risk AI system requirements fully applicable by August 2, 2026. Any business using AI for hiring, credit scoring, healthcare, education, law enforcement, or critical infrastructure must comply or face fines up to €35M or 7% of global revenue.
The SMB nightmare:
- Setting up a QMS from scratch: €193K-330K (enterprise estimates)
- Per high-risk AI system compliance: €9.5K-14.5K
- Existing compliance platforms: $30K-150K/year (Credo AI), $12K+ (OneTrust)
- The average Portuguese SMB's entire IT budget might be €20-50K/year
Evidence of pain:
- AI Policy Bulletin: "It's too hard for small and medium-sized businesses to comply with EU AI Act" — dedicated article on the compliance burden
- Reddit r/MachineLearning and r/cscareerquestions threads: developers at SMBs expressing confusion about whether their AI tools are "high-risk" and what documentation they need
- ComplyACT exists at affordable pricing (tiered from free) but is English-only and US-headquartered — proving demand for accessible tools
- VerifyWise went open-source specifically because they saw a need for affordable AI governance
- The EU Commission launched a free AI Act Compliance Checker — they know SMBs can't afford consultants
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