SafetyCulture’s new $73 million funding round and $1.6 billion valuation only mean more growth for its North American headquarters in Kansas City.
During the past three years, the headcount at the local office has grown 2.5 times. It employs about 60 local employees and plans to add at least 20 this year primarily in customer success manager and sales account executive roles, SafetyCulture’s Kansas City-based General Manager of Americas Bob Butler told the Kansas City Business Journal.
Butler said the company will retain its North American headquarters at 2114 Central St., but it will search for additional office space in the future.
The Australian tech company developed safety and quality management software that can be accessed from a mobile device. Some of the features include the ability for frontline workers to quickly report issues to prevent an incident and smart checklists for inspections and risk assessments.
Last year, SafetyCulture added a new offering with the $29 million acquisition of New York-based EdApp, an online microlearning app that allows a company’s employees to complete micro-training lessons on a smartphone. SafetyCulture’s recent funding round will allow it to pursue additional strategic growth investments and acquisitions, as well as continue its momentum, Butler said. Its customer base includes about 28,000 companies.
The $73 million round, which closed a few weeks ago, was led by New York-based Insight Partners, a global venture capital and private equity firm that invests in high-growth technology and software companies. Since 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies and has raised more than $30 billion in capital commitments. The round also was joined by existing investors Tiger Global, Index Ventures and Blackbird.
SafetyCulture’s new $1.6 billion valuation nearly doubles its valuation from April 2020.
“This happens all the time on the coast, where you announce that you’re a U.S. unicorn, but it’s very special when it happens in the Midwest,” Butler said. “We are so proud of the accomplishment as a company.”
It’s a testament to the company’s customers and employees, he said. During the pandemic, SafetyCulture’s offering became more relevant to companies outside of high-risk industries such as construction, mining and manufacturing. The company started seeing an uptick in customers from hospitals, retail, schools and hotels. Mid-March is when “it got real for all of us,” he said.
“Every industry became high-risk,” he said. “Anybody that had people and patrons in their building all of a sudden needed to show compliance measures for Covid-19.”
Companies used SafetyCulture for customized Covid-related checklists to track aspects such as sanitization protocols and ensuring brand standards were upheld at franchise locations. SafetyCulture also launched a “get safely back to business initiative,” which includes free digitized checklists of guidance from governments and other regulatory entities.
The pandemic also spurred more large companies to digitize its safety practices and put that in the hands of frontline workers, instead of simply hanging a poster in the break room.
“Safety is a differentiator of many companies now,” he said, “and SafetyCulture helps ensure that’s a differentiator.”
Take a look at SafetyCulture's North American headquarters in Downtown.
