Fintech
South African Fintech TurnStay Raises $300K From Web3 Investors, DFS Lab, and DCG, After Processing Over $30M – BitKE
TurnRemaina South African fintech focused on travel, has raised $300,000 (over R5.4 million) in funding from investors based in Silicon Valley and New York, DFS Laboratory AND Digital currency group.
The company plans to use the funding to expand its business in Africa and build on the significant traction it has already achieved.
Founded by seasoned entrepreneurs Alon Stern, co-founder of Slide Financial, and James Hedley, co-founder of Quicket, TurnStay radically reduces payment costs for African merchants and platforms in the travel and tourism industries, leveraging the same “tricks” used by the world’s largest booking companies.
“Having secured funding from these US investors is a vote of confidence in our business model, which has already processed transactions worth over R50 million [~$2.7 million]”, said TurnStay CEO Alon Stern.
“TurnStay creates a localized payment experience, charging customers in local currency using familiar payment methods when booking accommodations. TurnStay’s solution has reduced costs for some customers by 70% and cut unnecessary failed transactions in half. With a better payment experience, sales conversion rates skyrocket.”
In the travel industry, receiving payments can be expensive, as there are payment fees and commissions charged by online travel agencies.
“The average merchant spends 12% of their revenue on getting paid – this can often mean the difference between profit and loss and dramatically impacts the profitability of many businesses in an industry that employs over six million people in Africa,” says James Hedley, co-founder of TurnStay.
By leveraging a global network of compliant companies, TurnStay significantly reduces international payment costs for hotels while maintaining security and efficiency. It addresses the problem of African hotels facing commissions up to 20 times higher than online travel agencies like Booking.com.
Benefits for merchants include:
- Reduced commissions for cards
- An improved payment experience and
- Increase in direct bookings
enabling accommodations to compete more effectively with online travel agencies through improved conversion rates.
TurnStay’s payment solution is seamlessly integrated with leading booking engine providers like Benson Software.
Stephen Deng, General Partner at DFS Lab, explains:
See also
“TurnStay is creating a much-needed offering for the travel and tourism industry in Africa that unlocks significant cost savings for hospitality businesses across the continent. We believe the founders are the perfect team to seize this opportunity, combining deep industry experience with a proven history of shipping market-leading products.”
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