Sparrow, a leader in employee leave management technology, has announced the completion of a $35 million Series B funding round led by SLW, bringing the total investment in the company to $64 million.
The new capital will enable Sparrow to scale its global leave management technology and expand its solutions to address adjacent labor compliance issues. The company aims to simplify a complex process through a combination of compliance expertise and intelligent automation, creating a streamlined experience for both human resources professionals and employees.
Deborah Hanus, CEO and Cofounder of Sparrow, highlighted the multifaceted nature of leave management. “Leave is complicated — and stressful,” Hanus stated. “It touches so many aspects of the company — legal compliance, insurance, state agencies, payroll, HRBPs, managers, and employees. Everything is always changing, and no one has the data they need when they need it. Sparrow has centralized that data to truly make leave — and adjacent areas of legal compliance — stress-free for the thousands of caring companies who trust us to support their workforce.”
Andy Biladeau, Chief Transformation Officer at SHRM, commented on the persistent challenge of leave management for HR professionals. “Through SHRM membership, our more than 325,000 members have access to live HR support at no additional cost. Every year, we receive over 60,000 calls, and for more than a decade, leave management has consistently been a leading concern for our members. It’s inspiring to see the meaningful impact Sparrow is making in this space. We look forward to supporting their continued success as they enter their next phase of growth,” Biladeau said.
Customers have also reported significant benefits. Angela Barker, Senior Director of Total Rewards and Operations at Aura, noted, “With a distributed workforce, keeping up with leave compliance is difficult. Having Sparrow to navigate labor laws and align with our policies has been invaluable.” Sonya Miller, Vice President of People Operations at Eightfold AI, added, “Sparrow pays for itself six or seven times over,” indicating a substantial return on investment.
Matt Walsh, Managing Director at SLW, expressed enthusiasm for Sparrow’s approach. “We are incredibly excited about Sparrow because they are addressing one of the most complex and underserved areas of HR by utilizing AI to automate the manual, error-prone tasks that companies and employees encounter today. By combining deep compliance expertise with intelligent automation, Sparrow is transforming a significant pain point into a streamlined, employee-centric experience. As the future of work demands more flexibility and support for employees, Sparrow is uniquely positioned to become the category leader in this essential part of the human capital management (HCM) stack.”
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Cofounder and Managing Partner at WndrCo, which led Sparrow’s previous funding round, emphasized the positive impact on employees. “My mantra is do good by doing good. When someone has a life event that requires them to take leave, great employers step up so that no one has to choose between work and the people they love. With Sparrow, a seamless leave experience brings employees back more loyal, more engaged, and eager to share just how supported they felt.”
Sparrow’s end-to-end leave solution manages compliance correctly and consistently, aiming to enhance the experience for HR professionals and employees, which in turn contributes to improved employee retention and engagement. The company is trusted by over 1,000 organizations, including OpenAI, Reddit, and Oura, and holds a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on the software marketplace G2.
Sparrow specializes in automating challenging aspects of employee leave management while offering support from its leave specialist team for various types of leaves across the United States and Canada. SLW, founded in 2012 as Silver Lake Waterman, became an independent firm in 2024, maintaining collaborative relationships with Silver Lake. SLW partners with technology companies, providing capital and strategic support throughout their growth cycles.
