South African Travel Fintech TurnStay Secures $2 Million to Boost Expansion Across Africa
Johannesburg – South African travel-centric fintech TurnStay has secured U.S. $2 million (over R34 million) in a seed funding round led by First Circle Capital, with contributions from prominent U.S. and African venture capital firms, including TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC, and Equitable Ventures.
This funding round will support TurnStay’s swift expansion across African markets and enhance its fintech capabilities for travel and tourism operators.
Founded by fintech professionals Alon Stern (previously with Prodigy Finance) and James Hedley (co-founder of Quicket, which was acquired by Ticketmaster), TurnStay seeks to address the systemic inefficiencies plaguing Africa’s travel industry.
TurnStay tackles a fundamental issue in African tourism: elevated transaction costs, unsuccessful international payments, and prolonged settlement times that adversely affect margins and cash flow.
Utilizing a merchant-of-record model and payment orchestration, TurnStay processes card payments in the traveler’s home country and settles funds locally through stablecoins.
This strategy can decrease payment fees by up to 70%, accelerate settlement times, and enhance booking conversion rates.
“TurnStay is transforming travel bookings for Africa and emerging markets,” states Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule, partner at First Circle Capital, a fintech specialist fund based in Africa.
“By concentrating on the travel and tourism sector, TurnStay can provide an exceptional customer experience and establish a robust, defensible advantage that differentiates it from general payment providers.”
“With promising early momentum, an outstanding founding team, and a vast untapped market, TurnStay is setting the groundwork for the next generation of cross-border travel infrastructure,”
The platform seamlessly integrates with leading booking engines and property management systems, allowing travel operators to adopt it without disrupting current workflows.
By presenting an alternative to global online travel agencies, which frequently impose high commissions and affect cash flow, TurnStay facilitates more direct bookings and enhances unit economics for local operators.
This seed funding follows a $300,000 pre-seed round in July 2024, led by DFS Lab and DCG.
TurnStay CEO Alon Stern remarked: “This seed funding marks a significant milestone in our mission to make global payment infrastructure accessible to African travel businesses.”
“Since our pre-seed round last year, we’ve processed over R250 million in transactions and established partnerships with industry leaders.”
“This validates our strategy and showcases the substantial value we bring to the industry.”
“We’re not only lowering costs – we’re empowering African travel companies to compete equally with international platforms.”
As tourism in emerging markets steadily grows and Africa experiences increased international travel, there’s a clear need for improved fintech infrastructure.
TurnStay is developing tools to fulfill that demand.
The funding arrives as TurnStay’s revenue growth accelerates, with the company forging significant partnerships within the industry.
“The combination of reduced payment processing fees and faster settlement times presents a compelling value proposition for our clients,” states co-founder and COO James Hedley.
“While traditional African payment processing can exceed 7% per transaction, our solution consistently offers savings of up to 70% while enhancing the overall booking experience for international travelers.”
The travel and tourism sector continues to be a vital economic driver in Africa, employing over six million people and processing more than 100 billion USD annually.
Nonetheless, high payment processing costs have historically hindered African operators in their competition with international booking platforms.
TurnStay’s infrastructure remedies this by granting access to the same cost-effective payment processing that global travel giants like Booking.com enjoy.
With this recent funding, TurnStay intends to broaden its client base throughout key African markets and further develop its payment technology to satisfy the increasing demand for seamless, cost-efficient international payment solutions in the travel industry.