Medius, a renowned provider of accounts payable (AP) automation with offices in Stockholm, Paris, and Tunis, has announced its intention to acquire Expensya, a provider of expense management software.
Expensya was founded in Tunis in 2014 by former Microsoft software developers Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani. The company is renowned for its web, mobile, and smart payment card solutions.
According to the CEO, the company operates in over 90 countries and serves nearly 6000 corporate enterprises with a total of approximately 500,000 employees. Expensya has expanded from the two French geeks who conceived the idea to 160 employees in 20 countries, including Thailand, Nigeria, Kenya, the United States, France, and Tunisia, where it is domiciled. Only 50 of its 160 employees are based outside of Africa, indicating that the company does its heaviest lifting in Africa, specifically in Tunis, Tunisia.
This acquisition is driven by the complementary character of both businesses’ operations and their mutual interest in AI-powered solutions. Although the transaction’s value has not been made public, its strategic alignment suggests an important investment by Medius.
At its core, Medius focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline and automate AP tasks, such as invoice capture, processing, and payments, for AP teams in the midmarket and enterprise. Utilizing anomaly detection technology, it can detect potential fraud or duplicate payments, thereby proactively identifying potential risks.
In contrast, Expensya’s innovative approach enables businesses to delegate spending authority to their employees, saving time and optimizing financial control within the CFO’s office. Its software, which is integrated with prominent ERP applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics, serves over 6,000 clients and over 700,000 active users in 100 countries.
Expensya’s comprehensive, AI-enabled employee spend management capabilities will complement Medius’ strengths in areas such as autonomous accounts payable, payments, procurement, sourcing, contracts, and supplier onboarding. In the fiercely competitive market for business applications, their complementary geographic and product advantages are expected to stimulate growth and cross-selling opportunities. Due to Expensya’s significant presence in France, this move also allows Medius to capitalize on the French e-invoicing mandate.
The announcement of one of the largest acquisitions in the MENA region follows a remarkable period of revenue growth for Expensya. In the past two years, the company has doubled its recurring revenue and increased its workforce to more than 200 employees, the majority of whom are located in Tunisia, France, and Germany.
Jim Lucier, the chief executive officer of Medius, lauds the acquisition, stating, “Expensya has developed a dominant employee spend management solution in Europe, with innovative features and AI-powered innovation. Its founders, Karim and Jihed, and leadership team share our goal of transforming the category of spend administration through the application of automation and AI. Together, we can provide CFOs with solutions that empower their teams while assisting them in transforming finance. We are thrilled to have the entire team join the Medius family.”
Similarly, Karim Jouini, CEO of Expensya, states, “Mid-sized organizations and their CFOs are obviously seeking a unified platform to manage all their expenditures effectively. By integrating our employee spend management solution and payment cards with Medius’s AP automation platform, we now cover the entire indirect spend of companies and can leverage the power of artificial intelligence to assist finance teams in optimising costs and processes. We anticipate composing the next chapter of our story alongside Jim and the rest of the Medius team.”
Kevin Permenter, director of research for Financial Applications at IDC, predicts that the planned acquisition will provide financial executives with a comprehensive view of the travel performance and financial standing of their organization. The interflow of data from travel and expense activities between relevant finance functions will make this possible, he explains.
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