From Expensya to Thunder Code: How Two African Founders Are Betting Big on AI
After a Major Exit, Jouini and Othmani Launch Thunder Code with $9M Backing
In 2023, Tunisian entrepreneurs Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani made headlines with the sale of their expense management startup, Expensya, to Swedish procurement software company Medius. While the official terms of the deal were not made public, various sources estimate the acquisition was valued at just over $120 million—marking it as one of the largest exits for an African-founded tech company to date.
Following that success, both founders publicly declared their intention to step away from the demanding world of startups. Jouini transitioned into a Chief Technology Officer role at Medius, helping oversee its global expansion, including six acquisitions across three continents.
But just a year later, the lure of a new technological frontier—generative AI—has pulled them back in.
Introducing Thunder Code: A New AI Venture
Their latest project, Thunder Code, is a software testing platform powered by generative AI, co-founded less than six months ago. The startup has already raised $9 million in seed funding, as confirmed in an interview with
“It’s pretty crazy because we promised not to do another company because Expensya was too hard,” Jouini told TechCrunch. “But I think it’s like when people have two kids, they forget how hard the first one was. This new venture is less than six months old and already super intense, but we’re fired up. We’re convinced this is unicorn material.”
From CTO Back to Founder: A Spark Reignited
Jouini says his time as Medius’ CTO reignited a passion he hadn’t felt since Expensya’s early days. Managing post-acquisition integrations exposed him to the operational inefficiencies and bottlenecks common in software development—especially around testing. That realization laid the foundation for Thunder Code.
The startup focuses on automating quality assurance with AI “agents” that simulate the behavior of real human testers. These agents promise to significantly cut down the time and labor involved in manual QA testing.
Fast Execution, Lean Operations
Learning from their earlier journey, the Thunder Code team is putting speed at the heart of its strategy.
“We shipped our first MVP in week six, and now the product is much more solid six months in than Expensya was in year four,” Jouini said.
This approach reflects a broader trend in the startup world that prioritizes rapid user feedback over prolonged planning.
Thunder Code already has paying clients and pilot programs underway in the U.S., Canada, France, and Tunisia. While the current focus is on web app testing, the team aims to expand into mobile, desktop, and API testing by late 2025.
Lessons Learned and Applied
Jouini is also approaching funding and equity differently this time. One key lesson from Expensya: don’t shy away from early dilution if it means attracting top-tier talent.
“A lot of African entrepreneurs are scared to dilute capital because they want to keep 100%. We believe that if we create a unicorn while diluting ourselves, that’s good value,” he said.
Another priority for the new company is operational efficiency. Jouini believes AI will enable Thunder Code to create significantly more value with a smaller team—a belief echoed across the tech world as AI tools continue to reshape work dynamics.
A Larger Market and a Competitive Edge
While moving from expense tracking to developer tools may seem like a leap, Jouini sees the software testing industry as a massive opportunity. It’s a market projected to surpass $100 billion by 2027, and one still largely dominated by legacy platforms like Tricentis and BrowserStack—tools that may not keep pace with the rise of AI-native challengers.
“The pain points are similar, but this is a bigger, more complex market,” said Jouini.
Despite a growing field of competitors—from enterprise automation players like UIPath to younger startups such as Jetify and Nova AI—Jouini believes Thunder Code’s combination of fast product delivery and deep AI expertise gives them a real advantage.
Strategic Talent and Investors
Thunder Code’s technical credibility is bolstered by co-founder Jihed Othmani, who previously developed internal AI tools at Expensya before large language models went mainstream. The team is headquartered in Paris, with an additional office in Tunis.
Its $9 million seed round includes returning investors from the Expensya journey, like Silicon Badia and Janngo Capital, as well as new backers such as Titan Seed Fund, and strategic angels like Roxanne Varza (Director of Station F) and Karim Beguir, CEO of Instadeep—widely regarded as Africa’s leading AI company.
Notably, former and current Expensya employees also participated in the round.
“Some of our investors are actually Expensya employees and I’m glad it worked out that way,” said Jouini.
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