South African Travel Fintech TurnStay Raises $2 Million to Accelerate Expansion Across Africa

Johannesburg – South African fintech company focused on travel, TurnStay, has successfully raised U.S. $2 million (over R34 million) in a seed funding round led by First Circle Capital, with participation from notable U.S. and African venture capital firms, including TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC, and Equitable Ventures.

This funding will facilitate TurnStay’s rapid growth across African markets and bolster its fintech solutions for operators in the travel and tourism sector.

Founded by industry veterans Alon Stern (formerly of Prodigy Finance) and James Hedley (co-founder of Quicket, acquired by Ticketmaster), TurnStay aims to resolve the systemic inefficiencies faced by Africa’s travel industry.

The company addresses a critical challenge in African tourism: high transaction costs, failed international payments, and long settlement periods that negatively impact profits and cash flow.

Employing a merchant-of-record model and payment orchestration, TurnStay handles card payments in the traveler’s home country, settling locally using stablecoins.

This approach can reduce payment fees by up to 70%, improve settlement times, and boost booking conversion rates.

“TurnStay is revolutionizing travel bookings for Africa and emerging markets,” notes Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule, partner at First Circle Capital, a fintech-focused fund based in Africa.

“By concentrating on the travel and tourism sector, TurnStay can deliver a superior customer experience and build a solid, defensible position that sets it apart from general payment providers.”

“With promising early traction, a remarkable founding team, and a considerable untapped market, TurnStay is laying the groundwork for the next wave of cross-border travel infrastructure,”

The platform seamlessly integrates with top booking engines and property management systems, enabling travel operators to adopt it without disrupting existing workflows.

By offering an alternative to global online travel agencies, which often impose hefty commissions affecting cash flow, TurnStay encourages more direct bookings and improves unit economics for local operators.

This seed funding comes on the heels of a $300,000 pre-seed round in July 2024, spearheaded by DFS Lab and DCG.

TurnStay CEO Alon Stern commented: “This seed funding represents a pivotal moment in our mission to make global payment infrastructure more accessible for African travel businesses.”

“Since our pre-seed round last year, we’ve successfully processed over R250 million in transactions and formed partnerships with industry leaders.”

“This reaffirms our strategy and highlights the significant value we add to the sector.”

“We are not just reducing costs – we are empowering African travel companies to compete on equal footing with global platforms.”

As tourism in emerging markets continues to expand and Africa witnesses a rise in international travel, the demand for enhanced fintech infrastructure is clear.

TurnStay is working on developing solutions to meet this demand.

The funding arrives as TurnStay’s revenue growth accelerates, coupled with the establishment of important partnerships across the industry.

“The combination of lower payment processing fees and quicker settlement times offers a compelling value proposition for our clients,” remarks co-founder and COO James Hedley.

“While conventional African payment processing can exceed 7% per transaction, our solution consistently provides savings of up to 70% while enhancing the overall booking experience for international travelers.”

The travel and tourism sector continues to be a crucial economic engine in Africa, employing over six million people and generating more than 100 billion USD annually.

However, high payment processing costs have traditionally impeded African operators’ ability to compete with global booking platforms.

TurnStay’s infrastructure addresses this issue by granting access to the same affordable payment processing enjoyed by global travel leaders like Booking.com.

With this new funding, TurnStay plans to expand its client base across key African markets and further refine its payment technology to meet the growing demand for seamless, cost-effective international payment solutions in the travel industry.