SafetyCulture and QBE announce joint venture aimed at disrupting the SME insurance market

Global workplace safety technology platform, SafetyCulture has joined forces with QBE Insurance Australia (QBE), to launch a new insurance market entrant, Mitti, aimed at reimagining the traditional relationship between businesses and insurance.

Mitti is a technology-first insurance company aiming to challenge the traditional insurance model for small to medium businesses (SMEs), with a key focus on risk mitigation to reduce the likelihood of needing to make a claim.

Bringing together the expertise of two leading organisations, Mitti leverages SafetyCulture’s market-leading risk mitigation technology to identify and then alleviate potential business risks, with QBE providing the industry insights and underlying security of an international insurance company.

Founded by Luke Anear, a former investigator for workplace incidents, SafetyCulture is the world’s leading platform for workplace safety, quality and efficiency and in April became Australia’s latest unicorn with a valuation of $1.3 billion.

This joint venture with QBE follows SafetyCulture’s recent announcement of its first acquisition of EdApp, the award-winning mobile training solution. The acquisition, which valued EdApp at $40million, will enable millions of workers across diverse industries to access world-class micro-learning resources, free of charge.

“Everyday SafetyCulture helps thousands of businesses across the globe build their immunity to risk. Since inception, we’ve been encouraging our customers to proactively lean into challenges and take ownership of their risk,” says Anear.  “Our partnership with Mitti propels our mission to empower businesses to build a genuine safety culture in their workplace. We’re eager to help more Australian companies improve their risk management and reap the rewards.

“Mitti customers will gain access to our iAuditor platform; the world’s largest safety checklist app. This technology enables customers to conduct workplace inspections, extract insights and build a holistic picture of safety, compliance and risk.”

QBE Ventures CEO, James Orchard, said that the ways in which customers interact with technology have evolved considerably, which presents a big opportunity for the insurance industry.

“QBE’s joint venture with SafetyCulture has created a unique and compelling proposition that responds to the needs and ambitions of small and medium businesses in Australia. By leveraging big data, AI and machine learning we can deliver more tailored solutions that don’t just assess risk, but help customers avoid risks altogether and the losses that come with these. Importantly, by supporting more businesses to manage their risks, Mitti will help create safer workplaces for their customers and employees. 

“The launch of Mitti is a great example of how we’re making deliberate changes to how we work within QBE, to adopt new ways of thinking, create more innovative products and services, remove barriers to productivity, and partner with innovative players to ultimately reinvent insurance.”

QBE’s Danial Cummins has been appointed to lead the growth and development of Mitti, bringing 15-years’ experience within QBE’s commercial lines division to the new challenger brand.

This exciting partnership merges two Australian business success stories, with both SafetyCulture and QBE and founded in Townsville, Queensland in 1886 and 2004, respectively, before launching internationally.

Mitti will be acting under a Binder as an Authorised Representative of QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd. 

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