Founded in 2022 by Caine Wanjau and Thuku wa Thuku, Kenyan startup, DigitTax, provides electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) software designed to meet rising tax authority demands across Africa.
More governments, including Kenya, are rolling out e-invoicing mandates to tighten tax collection, and businesses need reliable tools to comply or risk penalties. DigiTax’s work is hinged on this development. The company positions itself as the plug-in for this compliance shift, working with large enterprises and smaller firms alike.
Its core offer is a software that connects business invoicing systems directly to tax authorities’ platforms. DigiTax is licensed in Kenya and Zambia. Thuku told TechCabal that Nigeria is next on its roadmap, and four more African markets are lined up for 2025. Its services and features can be accessed through an Android app, a web dashboard, and a flexible API, all designed to work without hardware installations. Businesses can manage their e-invoicing from any internet-enabled device.
Pan-African reach ahead
The company’s growth has been anchored in Kenya, where 90% of DigiTax’s revenue comes from. The Kenyan e-invoicing landscape is evolving quickly, especially under the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS). DigiTax integrates directly with KRA’s and Zambia Revenue Authority’s APIs, thanks to formal local engagements and regulatory authorisations. The firm has had to open regional offices and meet technical, legal, and administrative checks to operate legally in these markets.
The proprietary technology stack at the heart of DigiTax allows it to run a centralised system for core services like user management, security, and data encryption, while layering country-specific tax compliance engines on top, a design that helps the company localise operations.
“Our technology stack is able to leverage both the efficiency and functionality of the core platform, whilst also having country-specific tax compliance engines,” Thuku explained.
DigiTax targets large enterprises, defined in Kenya as businesses with an annual turnover of over $1.2 million, as its top clients, by volume and revenue. But it also caters to micro and small enterprises, and this broad targeting is shaped by policy, where tax compliance rules often require businesses to claim deductible expenses only using formally recognised, tax-compliant invoices, pushing even small firms to adopt e-invoicing.
How does DigiTax make money?
The firm monetises through a mix of annual subscriptions, one-off integration fees, and transaction-based pricing. This flexibility is meant to suit different client sizes and preferences. The API hub, a key part of its offer, is used mainly by in-house developers or third-party partners working within client organisations. DigiTax white-labels its APIs and supports integration across 20 programming languages, a practical choice given the diversity of software systems businesses use across Africa.
The firm declined to disclose additional details on how this monetisation is tiered for different companies.
Expansion beyond Kenya is on the horizon, but DigiTax says it follows a disciplined playbook. Thuku said that the firm asks three main questions when considering a new market: Is the e-invoicing environment ready? How large is the taxpayer base? Are existing customers with pan-African operations pulling them into the market, or can DigiTax benefit from a “last mover” advantage?
The company is backed by angel investors and two institutional firms, Equitable Ventures and Higa VC. In addition to capital, the investors have helped DigiTax with strategic introductions, sales guidance, and pricing strategies.
Internally, DigiTax’s 25-person team covers customer support, sales, marketing, finance, tax, engineering, and management. The company’s tax expert handles tax updates and compliance and produces weekly content for clients. The engineering team is responsible for maintaining uptime, managing security, and keeping the API infrastructure reliable. Regular engagement with tax authorities, the company claims, helps DigiTax stay ahead of upcoming regulatory shifts.
“We have formal engagements and contracts with the various tax authorities,” the company notes. “In order to integrate with revenue authorities, there’s generally a requirement to set up local offices and satisfy technical, legal, and administrative requirements.”
DigiTax’s growth faces clear pressures, since it must maintain speed while expanding across fragmented African tax markets. New entrants and local competitors are likely to challenge its early gains, and demand from small businesses, not just large enterprises, will shape how widely its services spread as e-invoicing takes hold. These are the pressures DigiTax will navigate as it shifts from a Kenya-heavy operation into a broader African tax compliance player.
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