TurnStay builds payment infrastructure for Africa’s tourism sector using a merchant-of-record model and stablecoin-based payouts to process payments in a traveller’s home country while settling funds locally. Its platform aims to cut cross-border payment fees by up to 70% and accelerate settlement times. The company was founded by fintech veterans Alon Stern and James Hedley. Since its $300K pre-seed in 2024, TurnStay has processed over ZAR 250M in transactions and secured key industry partnerships. With the new funding, TurnStay plans to scale across Africa, offering travel operators an alternative to global booking platforms. The product is positioned to boost operator margins and enable direct bookings. TurnStay provides a localized payments solution for the African travel and tourism sector, charging customers in their home currency and using familiar payment methods. The platform applies techniques used by major booking companies to lower card billing costs by up to 70% and has halved unnecessary failed transactions, boosting checkout conversion rates. TurnStay enables merchants to capture more direct bookings, reducing commissions paid to online travel agencies. The company has processed more than ZAR50 million (about US$2.8 million) in transactions to date. TurnStay will use the US$300,000 funding to expand quickly into additional African markets. Founders James Hedley (co-founder of Quicket) and Alon Stern (co-founder of Slide Financial) lead the business, and investors view the team as well-suited to scale across the continent.

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Aug 2025