Background: SafetyCulture started back in 2004 as a workplace safety checklist app. Since then, it's evolved into a global workplace operations platform that was valued at around $2.5 billion in its last raise in September 2024. But even a company built on safety is feeling a little unsafe in today's AI-heavy world.  

What happened: SafetyCulture is now going on the offensive - aggressively acquiring smaller companies to build out its AI capabilities. It's just snapped up Sydney-based AI startup Twine, which analyses sales and customer service calls using AI.

What else: And this isn't a one-off move... there's already another acquisition lined up, plus a third deal in late-stage talks. In an interesting twist, both SafetyCulture and Twine share the same key investor: Airtree Ventures.

What's the key learning?

💡 In venture capital, it's actually pretty common for companies backed by the same investors to end up doing deals with each other. We've seen this with Canva acquiring Leonardo.ai for $320 million and MagicBrief for over $22 million USD (both backed by Blackbird), and even Facebook acquiring Instagram for $1 billion USD (both backed by Accel).

💡 Venture capital firms actively connect their portfolio companies. When a company needs new capabilities, investors often look internally first, because they already know the businesses, trust the founders and can help facilitate the deal.  

💡 These "within-network" deals become more common when competition heats up. In fast-moving environments like AI, or when funding is tighter, companies lean on their investor networks to move faster and increase the odds of successful acquisitions.