South African travel-focused fintech TurnStay has raised $2-million (over R34-million) in a seed round led by First Circle Capital, with participation from leading US and African VCs including TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC and Equitable Ventures.
The round will fuel TurnStay’s rapid expansion across African markets and enhance its fintech infrastructure for travel and tourism operators. Founded by fintech tech veterans Alon Stern (ex-Prodigy Finance) and James Hedley (co-founder of Quicket, acquired by Ticketmaster), TurnStay is tackling the systemic inefficiencies in Africa’s travel space.
TurnStay addresses a structural challenge in African tourism: high transaction costs, failed international payments, and delays in settlement that impact margins and cash flow. Through a merchant-of-record model combined with payment orchestration, TurnStay processes card payments in the traveller’s home country and settles funds locally, utilising stablecoins. This approach lowers payment fees by up to 70%, shortens settlement times, and improves booking conversion rates.
“TurnStay is redefining travel bookings for Africa and other emerging markets,” says Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule, partner at First Circle Capital. “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.”
The platform integrates with leading booking engines and property management systems, making it easy for travel operators to adopt without disrupting existing workflows. By offering an alternative to global online travel agencies, which often charge high commissions and control cash flow, TurnStay enables more direct bookings and better unit economics for local operators.
This seed round follows a $300 000 pre-seed in July 2024, by DFS Lab and DCG.
TurnStay CEO Alon Stern says: “This seed funding represents a major 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 secured partnerships with industry leaders. This validates our approach and demonstrates the substantial value we create for the industry. We’re not just reducing costs – we’re enabling African travel companies to compete on a level playing field with international platforms.”