Oyster®, the global employment solution to employ, pay, and care for distributed teams, has recently raised $59 million in a Series D funding round led by Silver Lake Waterman, with participation from existing investors, including Emergence Capital, Stripes, Georgian, G2 Venture Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst. The financing will allow Oyster to accelerate its platform roadmap, broaden its impact, improve its customers’ compliance posture, and increase their ability to attract and retain top employees. The investment values the company at $1.2 billion, bringing its total capital to $286 million.
Founded in January 2020 by Tony Jamous and Jack Mardack, Oyster stands out as a unique solution that enables growing companies to provide their valued international team members with a seamless experience, without the usual complexities or costs. The platform facilitates people-centric recruiting globally, offering reliable, compliant contracts, payroll, and attractive local benefits and perks. By allowing partners to focus on their core competencies while ensuring global employment is fair and compliant, Oyster has successfully attracted HR Information System and Professional Employer Organization partners like BambooHR and TriNet. This partnership provides joint customers with the flexibility, scale, and premium hiring experience they deserve.
Commenting on the investment, Co-founder & CEO of Oyster, Tony Jamous, said:
This funding round validates our approach to building the compliance and compensation intelligence infrastructure companies need to drive global growth. We are grateful that the Silver Lake Waterman team shares our belief that global employment shouldn’t be a transactional service—it’s a dynamic relationship that values human potential, fosters innovation, and fuels economic impact. At the heart of Oyster’s success is an unwavering commitment to our mission: by making it possible for companies everywhere to hire people anywhere, we can create a more sustainable and equitable future for all. We’re proud to contribute to a global movement that makes human-centric employment available to workers.
As one of the few B Corp-certified unicorn companies in the world, Oyster is committed to creating a more equal world by democratizing access to global job opportunities. Customers like Lokalise, Quora, and Printify choose the startup to develop sustainable cross-border talent strategies, create competitive offers that attract and retain talent, and stay compliant at every stage of the employment journey. Its deep, country-level intelligence automates employment and compliance for more than 180 countries, reducing the burden on internal People, HR, and Payroll teams while saving on high costs of external advice.
Shawn O’Neill, Managing Partner of Silver Lake Waterman, stated:
Global employment is incredibly complex, involving many moving parts. Oyster emerged as a best-of-breed solution in the category to solve these traditional challenges. In just four years, Oyster built a platform of trusted tools and resources for bulletproof global compliance and in-depth local HR knowledge—a strategy that has made them one of the leaders in the market. The team at Oyster is well-positioned to continue to deliver the specialized HR solution required for the current global employment experience, and we look forward to all that’s ahead.
In the last year, Oyster launched a variety of products and services to give companies more tools and insights to scale their global operations confidently. Global Payroll and Visa Sponsorships help simplify operations and support borderless teams, while the Salary Insights tool provides fair compensation recommendations for domestic and international employees.
