Three years after launching with two people and an idea, South African fintech firm TurnStay has grown into a cross-border payments platform processing more than R1 billion in travel payments in the first six months of 2026.
The milestone marks a significant acceleration for the company, which was processing only tens of thousands of rands in its first months after launching in late 2023.
TurnStay now works with more than 100 clients, including established names in African travel and hospitality, while its team has grown to 13 people.
Founded in late 2023 by entrepreneurs Alon Stern, co-founder of Slide Financial, and James Hedley, co-founder of Quicket, TurnStay claims to reduce the cost of billing for hotels and travel homes by up to 70%.
It helps hotels, safari lodges, tour operators and other travel businesses collect payments from international guests. It combines a merchant-of-record model with payment rails, including stablecoins, to move money across borders faster and at lower cost.
Stern, who is also CEO, tells ITWeb the company has focused on the growth trajectory of the business rather than individual annual transaction totals.
“Crossing R1 billion in the first half of 2026 shows how far the business has come in a little over two years.
“Growth has been driven by existing customers increasing their activity on the platform, alongside larger travel and hospitality businesses joining TurnStay. Revenue has grown many times over in the same period. That has come from rising transaction volumes, larger enterprise clients and the platform doing more than it did at the start.”
TurnStay began with a single hotel owned by one of its co-founder’s family, giving the founders time to understand the payment and operational challenges facing travel businesses before pursuing broader growth.
Today, the company is focused on enterprise travel and hospitality businesses, Stern says.
Its footprint currently covers SA, Namibia, Kenya and Mauritius, with further African expansion planned as its business and the regulatory infrastructure develops.
Around 80% of its clients are headquartered locally. SA remains its core market, but Stern says demand is growing among groups with cross-border operations that need to move money between African countries more efficiently.
The company says it has deliberately expanded its workforce alongside the infrastructure required to support larger customers and increasingly complex cross-border payment flows.
“We've tried to grow the team in step with the infrastructure needed to support bigger customers and more complex cross-border flows. Africa's travel industry is cross-border by nature, but the financial infrastructure behind it is still fragmented, and we think there's a real opportunity to build the rails that let travel businesses operate efficiently across those borders.”
Funding fuels expansion
Funding has been another important milestone in TurnStay's development. It raised $300 000 in pre-seed funding in 2024, followed by a $2 million seed round in 2025. It is now preparing for a Series A raise to support continued expansion across Africa.
Stern identifies the $2 million seed round as one of the company's three major milestones since inception.
“The seed funding has primarily gone towards talent and licensing, rather than short-term customer acquisition. As we expand across Africa, having the right people and the right regulatory footing matters more than almost anything,” he states.
TurnStay has also expanded the technology underpinning its cross-border payments. More than 80% of its cross-border transaction volume now moves through stablecoin rails, although domestic South African payments do not necessarily require the technology.
“Domestic South African payments, for example, often don't need stablecoins. We don't think of them as a product in their own right. They're part of the infrastructure that lets us move value across borders faster and more cheaply. The company's broader proposition combines payments with operational functions such as bookings, supplier payments, reconciliation, multiple currencies and settlements.”
Building a Pan-African platform
TurnStay's next phase is focused on widening its customer base and geographic reach.
After initially targeting enterprise customers to prove the viability of its infrastructure with demanding travel businesses, Stern points out the company now plans to make its platform available to a broader range of travel and hospitality businesses across Africa.
Future plans include continued investment in payment and operational technology, entry into additional African markets, and expansion of the number and variety of businesses using the platform.
“Key priorities include continuing to invest in the underlying payment and operational technology, moving into new markets, and growing the number and variety of businesses on the platform. We're less focused on hitting a specific customer-number target than on becoming a genuinely useful financial platform for Africa's travel economy,” Stern concludes.
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