SafetyCulture rides deeper into unicorn club with $73M round, reaching $1.6B valuation

The evolution from a checklist app into an operations platform for working teams is paying off for SafetyCulture, which Monday announced a massive funding round from the East Coast — pushing the unicorn company even deeper into the realm of startups valued at more than a billion dollars.

Led by New York-based Insight Partners, the $73 million equity raise — joined by existing investors Tiger Global, Index Ventures and Blackbird — supports the expansion of the Australia-founded SafetyCulture, which opened its North American headquarters in Kansas City in 2016.

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Founders: Luke Anear
Founding year: 2004
Amount raised to date: $240M USD
Noteworthy investors: Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Index Ventures, Blackbird
Current KC employee count: 62
Global employee count: 527

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SafetyCulture now helps 28,000 businesses improve every day by streamlining the flow of critical information through its user-friendly, mobile-first platform, the company said.

Click here to read more about the impact of SafetyCulture’s pivots during the pandemic.

“We recently surpassed 100 million completed inspections in our flagship product, iAuditor, and this new funding allows us to continue that momentum,” said Luke Anear, founder and CEO, SafetyCulture. “It also allows us to invest in the development of our platform which will ensure the information captured by workers can easily be acted upon to improve quality, efficiency, and safety in the workplace.”

“Strategic growth investments and acquisitions will remain a key focus. Following the acquisition of online microlearning app, EdApp, last year, we’re looking at other great innovations which will transform the experience for millions of working teams around the world,” Anear continued.

SafetyCulture Kansas City team

SafetyCulture Kansas City team

SafetyCulture’s funding and new valuation was based on its progress in delivering value to a broader operational user base and its continued growth across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, hospitality, retail and logistics, the company said. It has attracted more than 1.5 million users to sign up to its platform in more than 85 countries.

“SafetyCulture’s growth is testament to the company’s deep understanding of the challenges working teams face in distributed work environments and their ability to consistently deliver innovative solutions to help these businesses improve every day,” said Teddie Wardi, managing director at Insight Partners.“ It has been phenomenal to see what the SafetyCulture team has achieved over the last few years. We’re thrilled to be supporting such a passionate and dedicated team deliver great solutions to the working world.”

Insight Partners made headlines in March 2019 when it invested more than $100 million in Kansas City-based govtech startup PayIt. Click here to read more about the PayIt deal and here to read about the company’s growth since.

SafetyCulture, Crossroads Arts District, Kansas City

SafetyCulture’s employee base has grown 2.5 times in the past three years. It plans to continue the same hiring trajectory for the foreseeable future as it rapidly expands its global product and engineering teams, the company said.

The funding round announced Monday follows a valuation of $800 million in April 2020 after securing $36 million from TDM Growth Partners, alongside Blackbird Ventures, Index Ventures, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy Turnbull, and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar (through his investment vehicle, Skip Capital, led by his wife Kim Jackson).

Click here to learn more about SafetyCulture.