SafetyCulture deepens its COVID response with $29M acquisition of ‘micro-learning’ app

September 16, 2020  |  Startland News Staff

Darren Winterford, EdApp CEO, and Luke Anear, SafetyCulture CEO; photo courtesy of Business Wire

An Australian startup with a significant presence in Kansas City has acquired a mobile training app to boost COVID-era education for businesses through free “micro-learning” resources.

“We’re experiencing the biggest workplace shake-up since economies were rebuilt after World War II. This is not survival of the fittest, this is survival of those that can adapt,” said Luke Anear, CEO of SafetyCulture, detailing how folding in EdApp’s technology is the next step for the company. “The pandemic has made it clear there’s a huge appetite for training as companies look to get safely back to business. EdApp will strengthen our ability to support businesses to do their best work.”

EdApp offers micro lessons downloaded straight to users’ smartphones. Learners acquire knowledge in targeted bursts when it suits them best and can learn at their own pace, according to SafetyCulture, which boasts a Crossroads-based second headquarters in Kansas City. Courses that employ micro elearning typically see completion rates rise from as low as 15 percent to about 90 percent and beyond, the company said in a press release. The app currently delivers about 50,000 lessons per day across more than 90 countries.

Click here to learn more about EdApp, which hails from New York City.

SafetyCulture’s $29 million acquisition of EdApp comes as the Sydney, Australia-born workplace safety and quality platform dedicates its 2020 to helping businesses navigate reopening amid new safety restrictions, Anear said.

In response to COVID-19, SafetyCulture digitized workplace guidance from governments and leading industry bodies across the world into free, ready to use and customizable checklists via its iAuditor app — which already has more than 75,000 users at more than 26,000 organizations.

Click here to learn more about iAuditor.

SafetyCulture employs more than 60 workers in Kansas City. Globally, the company has raised $100 million from investors. 

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

Tagged , , ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder

      2020 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        Jake Calhoun, Soya

        Pipeline, NXTUS drive exposure for entrepreneur’s on-demand fuel delivery startup

        By Tommy Felts | March 10, 2022

        Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. WICHITA…

        John Boucard, Tesseract Ventures

        Tesseract taps into KC’s sticky innovation culture with homegrown partnership to build IoT tools

        By Tommy Felts | March 10, 2022

        A new partnership between a leading robotics creator and one of its fellow Kansas City tech innovators showcases the founder’s longstanding commitment to harnessing the region’s potential as a collaboration powerhouse.  “When I moved back to Kansas City to start Tesseract, I made up my mind to lead by example and attempt to build close…

        Neal Sharma, DEG exit

        A weakness today can be KC’s superpower tomorrow: Call for corporate engagement begins with CEOs

        By Tommy Felts | March 8, 2022

        Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity.  Successful entrepreneurial ecosystems require a certain level of corporate engagement — and even stewardship — said Neal Sharma, noting the…

        Willa Robsinson, Willa’s Books & Vinyl, at H&R Block

        ‘Supplier diversity is deceptively difficult’: How to boost diverse small businesses without tokenizing them

        By Tommy Felts | March 8, 2022

        Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity.  Successful efforts to promote increased, consistent spending with more diverse small businesses must start with C-Suite buy-in, Christine Kelly said,…