South African travel-focused fintech TurnStay has secured $2 million (over R34 million) in a seed funding round led by First Circle Capital, with participation from top-tier US and African venture capital firms, including TLcom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC, and Equitable Ventures. This funding will accelerate TurnStay’s expansion across key African markets and further develop its travel-focused fintech infrastructure.
Founded by Alon Stern, formerly of Prodigy Finance, and James Hedley, co-founder of Quicket (acquired by Ticketmaster), TurnStay is building infrastructure to tackle the costly and inefficient international payment environment faced by African tourism operators. A previous pre-seed round in July 2024 raised $300,000, enabling the company to process over R250 million in transactions and form early partnerships in the travel ecosystem.
Traditional payment processing in Africa often carries fees above 7%, and booking platforms suffer from international payment failures and delayed settlement processes, undermining margins and cash flow for tour operators. TurnStay’s solution leverages a merchant-of-record model paired with payment orchestration and stablecoin-based local settlement. By processing card payments in the traveler’s home country and settling locally, TurnStay drastically reduces fees by up to 70% and improves conversion rates thanks to faster and smoother checkout experiences.
The platform integrates seamlessly with major booking engines and property management systems, allowing hoteliers and tour operators to adopt the technology without disrupting existing workflows. By offering a streamlined alternative to commission-heavy global online travel agencies, TurnStay enables direct bookings and more favorable unit economics for African operators.
While traditional African payment processing can cost over 7% per transaction, TurnStay’s solution consistently delivers significant savings while improving the overall booking experience for international travelers. The African travel and tourism sector employs over six million people and handles more than USD 100 billion annually. However, local operators have long been disadvantaged by high costs and limited payment infrastructure compared to global giants like Booking.com. TurnStay’s fintech stack levels the playing field by granting access to low-cost, reliable cross-border payment processing that rivals global platforms. Since its pre-seed round, TurnStay has processed over R250 million in transactions, and funding partners view its model as defensible and highly scalable across African travel markets.
With $2 million in fresh capital, TurnStay plans to scale its platform into additional African markets and deepen its fintech stack, focusing on further lowering costs, enabling quicker local settlements, and strengthening partnerships across the travel value chain. As international tourism to Africa grows steadily, TurnStay’s infrastructure is poised to support direct booking growth, healthier margins for local operators, and a more competitive, fintech-enabled tourism ecosystem across the continent.
