Expensya’s Big Ambitions: Joining Forces with Medius for Global Expansion

Wednesday, June 7th marked a significant and special milestone for the Tunisian entrepreneurship scene with the exciting announcement of Expensya’s merger with Medius. The executive teams of both companies celebrated with local staff in a series of visits to their different country offices, which started in Tunis where the announcement and signature took place. We captured Karim’s thoughts and insights on this merger in a podcast interview in partnership with “The Enthousiast” (link below).

“Personally, my objective was not to cash-out and leave, I wanted a merger where global domination was possible and faster (…) We looked at buying other competitors, merging, we had other acquisition offers, but none of the other alternatives was as exciting as the one we had with Medius.” (KJ)

Expensya has successfully established itself as the leading employee spend management software in Europe and is now joining forces with Medius to offer a comprehensive product suite in complementary markets and expand globally. Jim Lucier (CEO, Medius), former President of SAP Concur, was hired to transform Medius into a platform.

“We met with Jim and the team at Medius and it clicked very quickly. We have the same culture, very complementary products (…) We’re selling to the same persona (mid-market CFO) and we don’t have any market overlap!” (KJ)

This achievement brings to mind a series of significant milestones that Karim Jouini, Jihed Othamni, and their exceptional team have overcome over the last few years, and it has been an absolute privilege to witness and leverage the Endeavor network in some of these transformational moments.

One of their first acts was transitioning from a product-oriented company to a sales-centric organization. This transformation proved successful, leading to Expensya’s expansion into multiple European countries. They also kept optimizing their segment-specific sales process and built strategic partnerships in the banking and telecommunications sectors, fueled by two significant funding rounds. As the company continued its growth, Karim & his team structured their HR processes with a focus on company culture, performance, and agility. This helped them successfully navigate the COVID pandemic storm, capitalizing on it to pivot into a business spending company. Finally, they navigated this M&A phase with a focus on reaching their strategic and personal long-term objectives.

“M&A is not only a strategic decision, it has a strong personal component to it. We had intense and open discussions internally among the executive team members. We turned down offers because the team members were comfortable saying that they would leave the adventure in specific scenarios.” (KJ)

Throughout this remarkable journey, Karim made it a priority to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and multiply his impact. He placed a great emphasis on supporting local founders by offering mentorship and investing in their ventures. He also managed to include the Tunisia-based team in the employee stock-option scheme despite local regulations and constraints. This rewarded Expensya employees with around $10M at this liquidity event!

This acquisition not only serves as a testament to Expensya’s exceptional achievements but also highlights the remarkable progress and innovation within the Tunisian and North African entrepreneurial landscape. Following the earlier successful acquisition of Instadeep this year, Expensya’s accomplishment serves as a true inspiration to the entire North African entrepreneurial community.

Enjoy the special episode of “The Enthousiast” in which Karim shares his valuable perspective on this major milestone and the incredible journey leading to it!