Luke Anear

Anear was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, before moving to Townsville, Queensland. At age 16, he started his first business recycling glass from local bars. He started a number of small businesses before becoming a private investigator specialising in workers' compensation and industrial personal injury claims. Investigating workplace injury cases prompted Anear to explore ways to prevent workplace injuries from occurring in the first place.

Mitti

In 2004, Anear established SafetyCulture (initially Wade's Business Solutions) out of a garage in Townsville, Queensland, initially operating it as a lifestyle business distributing paper safety checklists.

In 2012, SafetyCulture launched its core product, iAuditor (later renamed SafetyCulture), a mobile app permitting field staff to digitize workplace inspections and record hazards. Encouraged by Atlassian co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, Anear transitioned the firm toward a venture capital model, securing equity backing across multiple funding rounds from investment groups including Blackbird Ventures, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, and Tiger Global Management.

In 2017, Anear was featured in the Australian Financial Review Rich Young 2017.

By 2021, the company expanded its feature set into Internet of Things (IoT) environment monitoring and digital microlearning, reaching unicorn valuation status; as of its latest 2024 valuation, the company is valued at A$2.5 billion. Anear subsequently expanded operations into international markets, maintaining major regional hubs in Sydney, Manila, Kansas City, and Manchester.

In August 2023, he was featured in a four-part series called Founder focusing on Australian technology startup founders, also featuring Melanie Perkins of Canva, Katherine McConnell of Brighte and Fred Schebesta of Finder.

In 2024, Anear announced he was stepping away from his role as the CEO and became the company’s executive chair.

He returned as CEO in February 2026.

In August 2026, SafetyCulture formally rebranded as Mitti to reflect its expansion beyond traditional safety management to an all-in-one operations system for the frontline, bringing together software, hardware, consumables and insurance.