SafetyCulture raises $23M to improve workplace safety

The company will use the funding to build out its team in the U.S., U.K. and Australia

Most of us have jobs where, frankly, there's very little danger of us getting hurt. I mean, I might get a paper cut, or I could hit my head on my desk, but that’s about the extent of it. That's not true of everyone, of course,. Some people have really dangerous jobs, and companies need a way to conduct safety inspections and quality assessments to keep their workers safe. 

That's where SafetyCulture comes in. With its iAuditor app, it allows workers to conduct audits and quickly evaluate safety and quality, all in real-time.

The company has announced a new $23 million Series B round of funding, led by international venture capital firm Index Ventures, with participation from Blackbird Ventures and Atlassian Co-founder Scott Farquhar, who led the company's Series A round in 2014.

With this new round, the company has now raised a total of $33 million. Previous investors also include Raven Ventures Australia.

Founded in 2004 in Townsville, Australia, the SafetyCulture iAuditor app and platform allows customers to create smart checklists, conduct on-site inspections, analyze data and share insights in real time, allowing companies to take action fast to address potential safety issues.

"The majority of our customers are implementing our application to replace pen and paper processes. However, we don’t see ourselves as a simple form building app company," Luke Anear, CEO and founder of SafetyCulture, told me in an interview..

"We provide technology that allows the collection of a wide range of data in the field, including photos, GPS locations, failed items, electronic signatures - whilst allowing organizations to view and analyze this data in real time. Our customers can use the data collected by their workforce to make quicker and better decisions."

The company currently has 50,000 paid users and over 100,000 free users conducting more than a million inspections per month across a variety of industries, including construction, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, food and beverage, aviation, transportation and logistics, mining and more.

SafetyCulture's customers include Coca-Cola, AECOM and Hilton. The company allows its customers to not only increase efficiency, but to save money.

One customer, Siemens, has saved around $170,000 in just 10 months by reducing time and paper wastage. They save money on the administration costs because the report is already generated in SafetyCulture iAuditor. Meanwhile, Level 10 Construction, which uses SafetyCulture iAuditor to manage safety and quality control, has performed 2.5 million man-hours with no loss-time injury. 

"Growing at this pace has allowed SafetyCulture to create one of the largest safety and quality databases in the world," said Anear. "SafetyCulture is aiming to make the world we work in a safer place. With mobile-first technology, we put safety and quality applications right into the palms of the workers on the front line."

The company will use the funding to build out its team in its San Francisco, Sydney and Manchester offices, specifically in engineering, product management, customer support and success, and marketing. It now has 80 employees and its plan to double that headcount in the next 12 months.

"All the growth to date has been via word of month. Now we will hire a San Francisco-based marketing team and expand customer success teams across our key markets of U.S., U.K. and Australia," said Anear. 

The funding will also toward product development.

"Currently, with our large and increasing database of workplace safety and quality activities, we are starting to predict what best practices could look like across different industries. We want to share insights to our customers to help them improve safety and quality. We can then start to provide benchmarking to our customers," said Anear.

Ultimately, SafetyCulture's goal is to be the global standard for safety and quality, and to be the go-to mobile-technology to give companies assurance that their workplace and workers are safe.

"SafetyCulture is a great place to work. We have fun whilst building technology that helps to save lives and improve the quality of the workplace. Everyone at SafetyCulture is here because they believe our mission," said Anear.

"It is different from developing gaming or dating applications. We all live by the values: Think Customer, Build it Well, Bring Ideas, Never Stop Learning and Open. Honest. Always."