South African Travel Fintech TurnStay Raises $2 Million to Fuel African Expansion
Johannesburg – The South African fintech company focused on travel, TurnStay, has raised U.S. $2 million (over R34 million) in a seed funding round led by First Circle Capital, with backing from notable venture capital firms from both the U.S. and Africa, including TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC, and Equitable Ventures.
This financial support will enable TurnStay to accelerate its expansion in African markets while enhancing its fintech offerings for travel and tourism operators.
Founded by fintech experts Alon Stern (formerly with Prodigy Finance) and James Hedley (co-founder of Quicket, which was acquired by Ticketmaster), TurnStay aims to solve systemic inefficiencies within Africa’s travel sector.
TurnStay addresses a key challenge in African tourism: high transaction costs, failed international payments, and lengthy settlement times that negatively impact margins and cash flow.
This approach has the potential to reduce payment fees by as much as 70%, speed up settlement times, and improve booking conversion rates.
“TurnStay is revolutionizing travel bookings for Africa and emerging markets,” remarks Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule, partner at First Circle Capital, a fintech-focused fund operating in Africa.
“By focusing on the travel and tourism sector, TurnStay is positioned to deliver an exceptional customer experience and create a solid, defensible competitive edge that sets it apart from generic payment providers.”
“With promising early traction, an exceptional founding team, and a vast untapped market, TurnStay is laying the foundation for the next wave of cross-border travel infrastructure,”
The platform easily integrates with leading booking engines and property management systems, enabling travel operators to adopt it without disrupting existing workflows.
By providing an alternative to global online travel agencies, which often impose high commissions and impact cash flow, TurnStay encourages more direct bookings and improves the unit economics for local operators.
This seed funding comes after a $300,000 pre-seed round in July 2024, led by DFS Lab and DCG.
TurnStay CEO Alon Stern commented: “This seed funding is a crucial step in our journey to make global payment infrastructure accessible for African travel businesses.”
“Since our pre-seed round last year, we’ve facilitated over R250 million in transactions and forged partnerships with industry leaders.”
“This confirms our strategy and highlights the immense value we offer to the industry.”
“We’re not just cutting costs – we’re empowering African travel companies to compete on equal footing with international platforms.”
As tourism in emerging markets continues to grow and Africa sees an uptick in international travel, there’s a rising demand for improved fintech infrastructure.
TurnStay is developing solutions to meet that need.
The funding coincides with accelerated revenue growth for TurnStay, as the company establishes notable partnerships within the industry.
“The combination of lower payment processing fees and quicker settlement times provides a compelling value proposition for our clients,” states co-founder and COO James Hedley.
“While traditional African payment processing fees can exceed 7% per transaction, our solution consistently delivers savings of up to 70% while improving the overall booking experience for international travelers.”
The travel and tourism industry remains a crucial economic engine in Africa, employing over six million people and generating over 100 billion USD annually.
However, high payment processing costs have historically impeded African operators in competing against international booking platforms.
TurnStay’s infrastructure solves this issue by providing access to the same cost-effective payment processing enjoyed by global travel leaders like Booking.com.
With this latest funding, TurnStay plans to expand its clientele across key African markets and further enhance its payment technology to meet the growing demand for seamless, cost-effective international payment solutions in the travel sector.
