When was Oyster.com founded?

Oyster.com was founded in 2008 and raised its 1st funding round within a year of its incorporation.

Where is Oyster.com located?

Oyster.com is headquartered in New York City, United States.

Who is the current CEO of Oyster.com?

Elie Seidman of Oyster.com. They are also an angel investors in 1 startup.

How many employees does Oyster.com have?

As of May 31, 2026, the latest employee count at Oyster.com is 87.

Is Oyster.com a funded company?

Oyster.com is a funded company, having raised a total of $20.5M across 3 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a $***** Series A round, raised on Mar 01, 2008.

When was the latest funding round of Oyster.com?

Oyster.com's latest funding was a $***** Series B round on Apr 22, 2011, with participation from 2 investors. Its primary sector is Online Travel. In United States, the Online Travel sector has seen $1.26B in funding in 2026 to date.

Where does Oyster.com rank among its competitors?

Oyster.com ranks 2nd amongst 18 active competitors, none of which are funded.

Who are the top competitors of Oyster.com?

Oyster.com's top competitors include Trivago, Inns of Monterey and Room Key. Among them, Trivago secured the most recent funding round in November, 2021.

Oyster.com - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors

Oyster.com is an acquired company based in New York City (United States), founded in 2008 by Elie Seidman, Ariel Charytan and Eytan Seidman. It operates as a Metasearch portal for hotels. Oyster.com has raised $20.5M in funding from investors like Bain Capital Ventures, Accelerator Ventures and Travel Channel. The company has 18 active competitors, including 2 that have exited. Its top competitors include companies like Trivago, Inns of Monterey and Room Key.

Company Details

Oyster is a metasearch portal for hotel. It provides rates and reviews from its partner agencies like Expedia, MakeMytrip etc. Also provides collection of curated hotels category wise like Kid-Friendly, Spa, boutique etc. Users can compare prices of the hotels on the portal itself and then are forwarded to the 3rd party site to make the bookings.

Website: www.oyster.com/
Social

Key Metrics

Founded Year

2008

Location

New York City, United States

Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

$20.5M in 3 rounds

Latest Funding Round

Series B, Apr 22, 2011, $*****

Investors

Bain Capital Ventures & 3 more

Ranked

2^nd among 18 active competitors

Employee Count

87 as on May 31, 2026

Similar Companies

Trivago & 175 more

Exit Details

Acquired by TripAdvisor (Oct 15, 2013)

View Oyster.com's full profile

Oyster.com got acquired by TripAdvisor on Oct 15, 2013.

Click here to take a look at Oyster.com's acquisition in detail

Oyster.com has raised a total funding of $20.5M over 3 rounds. Its first funding round was on Mar 01, 2008. Its latest funding round was a Series B round on Apr 22, 2011 for $*****. 2 investors participated in its latest round. Oyster.com has 4 institutional investors.

Here is the list of recent funding rounds of Oyster.com:

Date of Funding	Funding Amount	Round Name	Post-Money Valuation	Revenue Multiple	Lead Investors	Other Investors
Apr 22, 2011	4342037	Series B	8505123	9570645	9706166	8818038
Sep 11, 2009	4482653	Series A	4878021	7339491	9626848	8714545
Mar 01, 2008	2030392	Series A	4428935	9640207	Bain Capital Ventures & 1 more	9224007

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View details of Oyster.com's funding rounds and investors

The founders of Oyster.com are Elie Seidman, Ariel Charytan and Eytan Seidman.

Here are the details of Oyster.com's key team members:

Elie Seidman: Co-Founder & CEO of Oyster.com. They are also an angel investor in 1 startup.
Contact Info: 1 email address
Ariel Charytan: Founder & Chief Product Officer of Oyster.com.
Eytan Seidman: Co-Founder and VP Product (Acquired by TripAdvisor) of Oyster.com.

View details of Oyster.com's Founder profiles and Board Members

Oyster.com's employee count trend

Oyster.com has 87 employees as of May 26. Here is Oyster.com's employee count trend over the years:

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Top competitors of Oyster.com include Trivago, Inns of Monterey and Room Key. Here is the list of Top 10 competitors of Oyster.com, ranked by Tracxn score:

Rank	Company Details	Short Description	Total Funding	Investors	Tracxn Score
1st	Trivago 2005, Dusseldorf (Germany), Public	Online meta-search platform for hotel accommodations	$53.1M	Insight Partners, Team Europe & 7 others	79/100
2nd	Oyster.com 2008, New York City (United States), Acquired	Metasearch portal for hotels	$20.5M	Saints Capital, Accelerator Ventures & 2 others	39/100
3rd	Inns of Monterey 1997, Monterey (United States), Unfunded	Online meta-search platform to book hotel accommodations	-	-	35/100
4th	Room Key 2012, Dallas (United States), Deadpooled	Hotel Meta Search Engine	$1M	Horizon Partners, 500 Global	31/100
5th	Hotelsel 2019, Claymont (United States), Unfunded	App-based platform that provides deals on hotel bookings	-	-	29/100
6th	Hotel Miles 2011, Palo Alto (United States), Funding Raised	Metasearch engine for hotels	-	VC Travel	28/100
7th	Hotelicopter 2006, Charlottesville (United States), Deadpooled	Find hotels in the US that allow 18-year-olds to check-in	$5M	-	26/100
8th	Goseek 2014, Henderson (United States), Funding Raised	Metasearch engine for hotels	-	North Bay Angels	26/100
9th	14sb.com 2000, Fort Pierce (United States), Unfunded	Online discovery platform for hotels near sports venues	-	-	25/100
10th	Hotels-atlanta 2017, Turkey (United States), Unfunded	Online metasearch platform for hotels	-	-	24/100