SafetyCulture banks another $75m as valuation takes a hit

Workplace software unicorn SafetyCulture secured $75 million in new capital through its latest funding round, which has valued the Sydney-based company at $200 million less than last year.

SafetyCulture plans to use the new funding to continue developing software tools for larger enterprise customers, as well as accelerate its adoption of AI and reward long-time employees.

Announced on Monday, the recently closed funding round is comprised of $75 million in new equity and $90 million worth of secondary sales as existing investors sold off some of their equity holdings.

Since the company’s last $34 million raise in August 2023, the company’s valuation has fallen from $2.7 billion to $2.5 billion.

The latest funding round was led by Airtree Ventures, which reportedly tipped in $40 million — the VC firm largest-ever initial investment. It also included existing investors Blackbird and Morpheus Ventures.

Super funds Hostplus and HESTA also took part in the round through Blackbird.

SafetyCulture founder and chief executive Luke Anear said he is “excited about the opportunities it creates for us to accelerate our growth and help even more customers”.

“It’s a tough environment to be raising in, but we’re proud of the results the business is delivering and pleased that we can continue to create regular liquidity events for early investors and long-term employees,” Mr Anear said.

Airtree partner Kell Reilly said it is an “opportune time” to invest in SafetyCulture, which “has all the hallmarks of Silicon Valley’s tech heavy weights – a compelling vision, product, scale and team”.

The company has recruited around 100 additional staff over the last six months, now boasting 800 employees across its offices in Townsville, Kansas City, Manchester, Amsterdam, Manila, and its headquarters in Sydney.

It also released its workplace operations platform in October 2023. The platform includes new functions for training, asset management, sensors and internet-of-things.

The company claims to be used by nearly two million users across 85,000 businesses from around the world. It has set the target of reaching 100 million users by 2032.

Having amassed “the world’s largest repository of workplace data, containing over five petabytes of data and billions of images”, Mr Anear said AI development is the company’s next step.

“AI is the way we can make sense of that information, and if we can harness it properly, we’ll effectively be able to give frontline teams superpowers that will completely change the way they work,” Mr Anear said.

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