African Startup Founders Launch AI-Powered Software Testing Platform

In 2023, after successfully selling their expense management startup Expensya to Swedish firm Medius for over $120 million, co-founders Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani vowed never to start another company. Yet, the allure of generative AI and the potential to build something even bigger pulled them back into entrepreneurship.

They co-founded Thunder Code, a generative AI-powered software testing platform that simulates human testers through AI agents. These agents perform quality assurance by detecting subtle UI and UX issues and learning from feedback, dramatically speeding up the testing process.

Within six months, Thunder Code secured $9 million in seed funding and already serves paying customers and pilot programs across the U.S., Canada, France, and Tunisia. The company focuses initially on web application testing, with plans to expand into mobile, desktop, and API testing by 2025.

Jouini’s experience as CTO at Medius, overseeing integration across continents, revealed the universal challenge of slow, manual software testing. This insight inspired the AI-driven solution that Thunder Code offers, aiming to disrupt a $100 billion market still dominated by legacy platforms like Tricentis and BrowserStack.

Thunder Code’s rapid development approach—shipping an MVP in just six weeks—reflects a startup culture that values fast feedback over perfect planning. This agility, combined with AI’s efficiency, positions the company to generate significantly more value with leaner teams.

The founders also embrace early equity dilution to attract top talent, a strategy often avoided by African entrepreneurs. They believe that creating a unicorn startup while sharing ownership is a worthwhile trade-off for long-term success.

Thunder Code operates from Paris with an office in Tunis, entering a competitive market alongside companies like UIPath, Jetify, and Nova AI. The co-founders’ complementary expertise in generative AI and strong investor backing—including previous Expensya investors and employees—provide a solid foundation for growth.

Thunder Code’s story highlights how African tech entrepreneurs are leveraging global trends in AI to build innovative solutions that address universal challenges. Their journey from expense management to AI-driven software testing exemplifies the transformative potential of generative AI in reshaping industries worldwide.