Since relocating abroad to France, it has been raining funds for Expensya, an automated spend management solution for businesses. After it moved its headquarters from Tunisia, the startup raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding, followed by a $4.5 million round in 2018. It has now raised a $20 million round from two new investors, MAIF Avenir and Silicon Badia, which have invested in its development, joining previous investors ISAI and Seventure.
The Tunisia-based startup, created and self-funded by a Tunisian, Karim Jouini, who was educated and trained in France, is aimed at the French and wider European markets. The business, which has a majority of its current employees based in Tunisia, takes advantage of Tunisia’s advantages of high quality of life and low prices, as well as France’s advantages of financing, support, and a mature market.
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“This fundraising is a testament to Expensya’s performance and reflects its ambition to be THE leader in 360° expense management. It is a powerful accelerator for the business expense automation market, offering the most comprehensive solution coupled with an optimized experience”, states Karim Jouini, CEO and Co-Founder of Expensya.
With this round of funding, the company will be able to expand its R&D and international reach.
Expensya’s aim is to accelerate its international expansion and distribution across mainland Europe, eventually establishing itself as the market leader in business expense management solutions.
Why The Investors Invested
“We are very pleased and proud to be supporting the growth of Expensya, whose solution accompanies the transformation of the professional environment and strengthens organizations to make them more sustainable. We have been impressed by the company’s progress and performance since its founding and share the vision of its leader who is committed to corporate citizenship.” Milène Gréhan, head of the MAIF Avenir fund.
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“After evaluating several opportunities in the general space, we were very excited to find a company that has the foresight to understand what the market needs and where the industry is heading globally in terms of moving from pure expense management 1.0 tools into next generation spend management and payments solutions. Karim, Jihed and the team at Expensya have done an amazing job building an API-first collaborative platform and are in a great position to scale moving forward.” Namek Zu’bi, Managing Partner of Silicon Badia.
A Further Indictment On Tunisia’s Rigid Rules Limiting International Expansion
The reason for the relative fundraising success of Expensya since headquartering away from Tunisia is not far-fetched.
To expand to foreign countries as a startup in Tunisia, you have to pass through the eye of a needle.
Although the country’s Startup Act is a deal-breaker, in that it offers a range of uncommon incentives to startups, it does not, however, give one thing, at least in practice.
In Tunisia, transactions in currencies other than the country’s dinar are generally disallowed by the country’s central bank (BCT). In fact, credit and debit cards cannot be used for purchases on foreign commercial internet sites and most Tunisian banks only allow account holders to use bank-affiliated credit and debit cards to make domestic online purchases denominated in dinars.
The Startup Act, by its terms, currently allows startups to open a special foreign currency account which they can freely fund with contributions of capital, turnover and dividends in foreign currency, but it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a startup to be approved to have access to a foreign currency account. This has grossly affected international expansion and fundraising efforts of so many startups in the North African country, including Expensya.
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A Look At What The Startup Does
Founded in 2014, Expensya provides a comprehensive service to its customers, allowing them to monitor and control all of their business expenses from start to finish. Its automation solution enables businesses to delegate low-value-added activities, allowing them to become more flexible and resilient. Expensya plans to use its technical capabilities to build on its strengths and show its ability to follow emerging market practices. Expensya is expanding and improving its team in order to face the challenges of the future. Stéphanie Rogeau-Barré has joined Expensya as Administrative and Financial Director, and Fabrice Clauzon has joined as Director of Partnerships, according to Karim Jouini, CEO and co-founder.
At the start of the year, Nicolas Deswarte, Marketing Director, and Mario Roche, VP Sales, were also hired. Growth Marketing expert AnhTho Chuong Degroote has also joined the Expensya board of directors. Expensya’s ability to assist its clients in their digital transformation is strengthened even further with the addition of these new talent (dematerialization). Expensya will be able to hire more than 100 new employees over the next three years, in addition to the 140 currently employed.
Karim Jouini, the company’s CEO, is dedicated to creating a responsible business model that generates long-term value, first and foremost for its employees.
Expensya
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer