SafetyCulture is officially Australia’s newest unicorn after the Queensland-based tech company closed a $60.5 million funding round.
According to the company, the Series C-1 round valued the company, which provides a software inspection app for worksites, at $1.3 billion.
The round was led by TDM Growth Partners, with participation from Blackbird Ventures, Skip Capital, Index Ventures and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy.
It’s the second major tech funding round Mr Turnbull has participated in this week, after space IoT startup Myriota’s $28 million round was revealed on Tuesday.
Nearly half of the cash injection – $30 million – has been handed straight to SafetyCulture early employees who have been at the company for at least three years, about 10 per cent of its 300-plus team. They have been given the opportunity to cash out some of their vested equity.
“This is an exciting milestone for us to achieve as a company, especially during uncertain times like these,” SafetyCulture founder and chief executive Luke Anear said.
“We’re particularly happy about giving employees the opportunity to sell some of their equity as a reward for all their hard work and continued loyalty.”
TDM Investments has also provided funding to the likes of Culture Amp, Tyro Payments and Aconex. Hamish Corlett, a partner at TDM Investments, said the company was set to continue its rapid growth in the coming years.
“TDM travels the globe to find a very small number of fast growing businesses that we can support on their scaling journey,” Mr Corlett said.
“We do however feel particularly passionate about supporting Australian founders and their businesses, and there is no doubt in our mind, there are few better than Luke and what he and his team have created right here in our backyard.
“The future is incredibly bright for SafetyCulture and we are excited to now be sharing that journey with them for many years to come.”
SafetyCulture’s iAuditor product is used by more than 26,000 organisations in 85 countries, with more than 600 million checks completed each year.
The company has seen an 85 per cent increase to annual recurring revenue in the past year, and in contrast to some other tech unicorns, is now cash positive.
The rest of the capital raised will be used to continue the company’s product development plans, which are mapped out for the next two years, and to hire a number of software engineers and product managers.
New features in the works include enhanced analytics and Internet of Things sensors and telematics capabilities in the app.
A startup stereotype, SafetyCulture was founded by Mr Anear in his Townsville garage in 2004. It now has offices in Townsville, Sydney, Kansas City, Manchester and Manila.
SafetyCulture’s unicorn status follows FinTech platform Airwallex, which was valued at more than $1 billion following a $US100 million Series C funding round early last year.
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