Australian startup SafetyCulture nabs $800 million valuation on $35.5 million round

SafetyCulture, the Australian enterprise software company that manages security and compliance checks at companies around the world, has raised $35.5 million at an $800 million valuation in its latest round of funding.

Nearly half of the new money was meant to provide liquidity to employee shareholders who had been with the company over three years, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

The round was led by the Australian growth capital investor TDM Growth Partners, with participation from other local Australian investors like Blackbird Ventures, Skip Capital (the firm created by Atlassian co-founder and co-chief executive, Scott Farquhar and helmed by his wife, Kim Jackson) and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife.

In all the company has raised over $100 million for its compliance software.

"This is an exciting milestone for us to achieve as a company, especially during uncertain times like these," SafetyCulture founder and CEO Luke Anear said in a statement. "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."

Over 26,000 companies in 85 countries use the iAuditor app to make safety checks every year. The company just crossed the cash-flow positive threshold and has operations in Kansas City, Sydney, Townsville, Manchester and Manila.

The new funding will be used to continue the company's product development as it looks to move from being a security and safety checklist to a more robust collaboration and communication platform, the company said.

"Today's announcement continues what has been 12 months of hyper growth for SafetyCulture's Americas headquarters in Kansas City," said Bob Butler, General Manager of SafetyCulture Americas. " The North American market currently makes up around 40% of our customers and this significant injection of capital enables us to accelerate product development for items customers need, along with the talent and marketing needed to scale our business to serve more customers and have a greater impact on safety and quality for workers all around the US."

In light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the company said it would offer its premium safety audit product and other features free for six months to healthcare, emergency, education, and volunteer organizing companies and on-profits.

SafetyCulture's current customers include: Emirates, Coca-Cola, GE, IKEA, Unilever, BHP Billiton and Accor. SafetyCulture.