The expense management tools developed by Expensya, a Tunisian startup launched in 2014, have become some of the most trusted solutions in Europe. 

While working as engineers in France, in the early 2010s, Tunisians Karim Jouini (photo, left) and Jihed Othmani (photo, right) realized that expense management -expenses recording and tracking especially- was manual and complicated for companies. Most of the existing tools were only accessible on computers even though there were some mobile billing and expense management solutions.  Also, the government’s invoice processing policy was still inefficient.

They then started developing their own expense management tools. Back in Tunisia in 2014,  they founded Expensya, a startup offering corporate expense management solutions. In 2016, 2017, and 2018, they completed funding rounds to develop their operations. Three years later, Expensya raised US$20 million from French and German investors, notably MAIF Avenir, Silicon Badia, ISAI, and Seventure Partners.

Once introduced in the market, Expensya’s management tools quickly became the legal digital invoice archive in France. The startup later expanded in Europe and Africa. According to Karim Jouini, the start-up is operational in more than 90 countries and serves nearly 6,000 companies. "In 2014, when Expensya started, companies still used Excel spreadsheets or some form of bespoke data entry solution—the ‘so-called’ existing solution—to record and track their expenses," he told TechCabal.

In February 2022, Expensya launched payment cards in the European market with plans to introduce that solution into its African markets. Thanks to the cards issued by Expensya (virtual or physical), clients’ employees can make sure the expenses they make comply with their company’s pending policy. 

“Employees could only request to be reimbursed after spending before now but with our card, they can now spend in real-time (...) and our software ensures that they are respecting the company’s spending policy and that of the country they are spending from,” explained Karim Jouini. 

Aïsha Moyouzame