Tech Companies Team Up to Democratize Training for the Global Workforce
SafetyCulture’s $29M USD Acquisition of EdApp Fast-Tracked to Respond to Increased Demand for Training in the Face of COVID-19
The world’s leading platform for workplace safety and quality SafetyCulture has acquired EdApp, the award-winning mobile training solution. EdApp currently delivers approximately 50,000 lessons per day across over 90 countries. The acquisition will enable millions of workers across diverse industries to access world-class micro-learning resources, free of charge.
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“There are thousands of businesses across the world with no access to training. SafetyCulture’s data illustrates that effective training will really benefit these workplaces. While we’ve traditionally focused on enterprise training, SafetyCulture’s backing will enable us to support teams of any size, free of charge.”
2020 has seen a major push to retrain and re-skill the global workforce in the face of new government guidelines and pandemic disruption. The ability for teams to adapt to new ways of working has become critical to business survival worldwide.
With the backing of SafetyCulture, EdApp will now offer a free version of its training platform globally to businesses of all sizes.
EdApp is a mobile learning solution which sees micro lessons downloaded straight to users’ smartphones. Learners acquire knowledge in targeted bursts when it suits them best and can learn at their own pace. Courses that employ micro elearning typically see completion rates rise from as low as 15% to around 90% and beyond.
SafetyCulture’s existing 26,000 customers were offered access to EdApp earlier this year as the two companies closely collaborated to find ways to support businesses through the COVID-19 crisis. The initial partnership saw businesses across sectors creating hundreds of courses and completing thousands of lessons.
Customers of SafetyCulture and EdApp include the likes of Toyota, GE, Cathay Pacific, Mars, United Nations and Colgate.
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SafetyCulture CEO Luke Anear believes training integration is the natural next step for the company, “We’re experiencing the biggest workplace shake-up since economies were rebuilt after World War II. This is not survival of the fittest, this is survival of those that can adapt. The pandemic has made it clear there’s a huge appetite for training as companies look to get safely back to business. EdApp will strengthen our ability to support businesses to do their best work.”
EdApp CEO Darren Winterford added: “There are thousands of businesses across the world with no access to training. SafetyCulture’s data illustrates that effective training will really benefit these workplaces. While we’ve traditionally focused on enterprise training, SafetyCulture’s backing will enable us to support teams of any size, free of charge.”
Small teams taking on big challenges
In April, EdApp announced the ‘Educate All’ initiative in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). In its biggest and most ambitious project yet, EdApp worked to increase access to free, high-quality, and impactful education to those furthest behind and with limited opportunities. Within only a few months the initiative has seen tens of thousands of courses taken.
SafetyCulture has dedicated 2020 to helping businesses navigate reopening amid new safety restrictions. In response to COVID-19, they digitized workplace guidance from governments and leading industry bodies around the world into free, ready to use and customizable checklists. Already, more than 75,000 people worldwide are using the company’s iAuditor app to complete daily COVID-19 inspections.
This is SafetyCulture’s first acquisition and follows a series of investments it made into EdApp over the last two years, most recently a AU$1million convertible note investment in early 2020.
EdApp and iAuditor are available on iOS and Android and companies can get started on both platforms for free. EdApp is available in 12 languages and iAuditor is available in 14 languages.
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