South African travel fintech TurnStay has secured a $2m seed round to accelerate its expansion across Africa and enhance its payment infrastructure for the continent’s tourism operators. The company aims to level the playing field for local hotels and tour providers competing with global travel giants.
The round was led by the Africa-focused fintech fund First Circle Capital. It saw participation from a mix of prominent US and African VCs, including TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, crypto-specialist CVVC, and Equitable Ventures.
The funding will be used to scale TurnStay’s operations in key African markets and further develop its technology, which is designed to solve deep-seated inefficiencies in the travel payment value chain.
The problem with travel payments in Africa
TurnStay was founded by CEO Alon Stern, former Head of Data at $1bn fintech Prodigy Finance, and COO James Hedley, co-founder of ticketing platform Quicket (which was acquired by Ticketmaster). The duo identified a structural challenge crippling many African travel businesses: prohibitively high transaction costs, a high rate of failed international payments, and significant delays in settlement.
These issues directly impact profit margins and create cash flow problems for local operators.
“While traditional African payment processing can cost over 7% per transaction, our solution consistently delivers savings of up to 70% while improving the overall booking experience for international travellers,” explained Hedley.
How it works
TurnStay operates on a merchant-of-record model combined with payment orchestration. In practice, it processes card payments from international tourists in their home countries, avoiding costly cross-border interchange fees. It then settles the funds locally with the African travel business, utilising stablecoins to ensure speed and efficiency.
The company claims this model dramatically lowers payment fees, reduces settlement times from weeks to days, and improves booking conversion rates by minimising payment failures.
The platform integrates directly with existing booking engines and property management systems, allowing hotels, lodges, and tour operators to adopt the system without overhauling their current workflows. By facilitating more direct bookings, TurnStay offers an alternative to relying on global online travel agencies, which often charge high commissions and control the flow of cash.
Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule, partner at lead investor First Circle Capital, commented: “Focusing on the travel and tourism segment, TurnStay can deliver a superior customer experience and build a sticky, defensible moat that sets it apart from generalist payment providers… With strong early traction, an exceptional founding team, and a massive untapped market, TurnStay is laying the foundation for the next generation of cross-border travel infrastructure.”
Gaining traction
This seed investment follows a $300,000 pre-seed round in July 2024 from investors including DFS Lab and Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Since then, the company has shown significant growth. “Since our pre-seed round last year, we’ve processed over R250m (approximately $13.5m ) in transactions and secured partnerships with industry leaders,” said CEO Alon Stern. “This validates our approach and demonstrates the substantial value we create for the industry.”
Africa’s travel and tourism sector is a major economic engine, processing over $100bn annually and employing more than six million people. However, operators have long been at a disadvantage compared to global platforms like Booking.com, which leverage their scale to secure lower payment processing costs.
“We’re not just reducing costs,” Stern added. “We’re enabling African travel companies to compete on a level playing field with international platforms.”
With its new funding, TurnStay plans to onboard more clients across the continent and continue refining its technology to meet the growing demand for efficient, low-cost international payment solutions.