Oyster raises $150 million

Oyster, which allows companies to hire and pay employees around the world, has raised $150 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion-plus valuation. Georgian led the round with participation from Salesforce Ventures, LinkedIn, the Base10 Partners Advancement Initiative, Okta, Endeavor Catalyst, Stripes, Emergence Capital, PayPal Ventures, Slack Fund, Avid Ventures, PeopleTech Partners, and HR Tech Investments.

Founded in 2019, Oyster’s platform enables companies to hire employees, manage payroll, and offer local benefits such as health insurance in 180+ countries.

“Distributed work is better for business, better for people, and better for the planet. Our mission, to create a more equal world by helping companies everywhere hire people anywhere, fuels everything that we do. It’s thanks to the strength and impact of that mission that we have been able to grow our team and business in such an unprecedented way. We’re thrilled to work with Georgian and our investor partners on this step of the journey.” – Oyster co-founder and CEO Tony Jamous.

“We are excited to support Oyster on their mission to provide opportunities that cross geographic barriers. They’re the kind of company that fits well within our investment mandate for both high growth and high impact. We see Oyster’s mission to incorporate impact as part of their values to be a key differentiator that will only fuel their continued growth.” – Claudine Emeott, partner at Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund.

“The Oyster team is one of the most mission-aligned companies we’ve ever seen. They’re the kind of company we deeply admire—not just a unicorn, but an ‘impact-unicorn,’ a business that creates enormous value as the direct result of its social impact mission. We’re eager to support them as they lead the world into a new era of work.” – Margaret Wu, lead investor at Georgian.