Alon Stern is the Co-Founder and CEO of TurnStay, a Cape Town-based travel fintech dedicated to radically reducing cross-border payment costs for African hospitality and tourism businesses. He is a second-time founder with a strong foundation in data science, analytics, and entrepreneurship.

Alon completed postdoctoral research in Oceanography at Princeton University and rose from Data Engineer to Head of Data and Analytics at Prodigy Finance before serving as a Data Consultant at Base13. He previously co-founded Slide Financial, a consumer finance company, bringing deep fintech expertise to his work at TurnStay.

Alon identified a critical gap in African travel payments after over a decade of personal experience in the holiday rentals and safari industries, noting the lack of affordable cross-border payment solutions for South African operators. His vision is to serve as the financial operating layer for the entire African travel industry.

TurnStay has raised a total of $2.3M across two rounds, including a $2M seed round led by First Circle Capital with participation from TLcom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CV VC, and Equitable Ventures. Alon co-founded TurnStay in 2021 alongside James Hedley, co-founder of Quicket, combining complementary entrepreneurial expertise.

TurnStay has processed over ZAR 250 million in transactions and reduced payment processing costs for some clients by up to 70%, while halving the number of failed transactions. The platform empowers African travel businesses to bill international clients in their local currency, boosting conversion rates and eliminating reliance on costly OTA commissions.