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Canva

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Canva Pty Ltd.
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded1 January 2013; 12 years ago (2013-01-01)
Founders
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Melanie Perkins (CEO)
ProductsCanva
Affinity
RevenueIncrease US$1.5 billion (2023)[1]
Members220 million users[2]
Number of employees
5,500[3] (2024)
Subsidiaries
Websitecanva.com
Canva
DeveloperCanva Pty Ltd.
Initial releaseAugust 2013; 12 years ago (2013-08)
Operating systemWeb application, Android, iOS, macOS, Windows[4]
Available in100 languages[5]
List of languages
Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Fulani, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazak, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Maithili, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Oromo, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Shona, Simplified Chinese, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Strayan, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yoruba and Zulu
TypeGraphics software, Whiteboarding
LicenseSaaS
Websitecanva.com

Canva Pty Ltd. is an Australian multinational proprietary software company launched in 2013 that provides a graphic design platform to create visual content for presentations, websites, and similar products.[6][7][8][9] Its uses include templates for presentations, posters, and social media content, as well as photo and video editing functionality.

The platform uses a drag-and-drop interface designed for users without professional design training. Canva operates on a freemium model and has added features such as print services and video editing tools since its founding.

A football goal with text on the bottom saying goalPro as an example of a Canva Design

History

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2013–2020

[edit]

Canva was founded in Perth, Australia, by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams on 1 January 2013. One of the company's early investors was Susan Wu, an American entrepreneur.[10] In its first year, Canva had more than 750,000 users.[11] In 2017, the company reached profitability and had 294,000 paying customers.[12]

In January 2018, Perkins announced that the company had raised A$40 million from Sequoia Capital, Blackbird Ventures, and Felicis Ventures, and the company was valued at A$1 billion.[13][14][12] It raised A$70 million in May 2019,[15] followed by A$85 million in October 2019 and the launch of Canva for Enterprise.[16]

In December 2019, Canva announced Canva for Education, a free product for schools and other educational institutions intended to facilitate collaboration between students and teachers.[17]

2021–2025

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In June 2020, Canva announced a partnership with FedEx Office[18] and with Office Depot the following month.[19] As of June 2020, Canva's valuation had risen to A$6 billion, rising to A$40 billion by September 2021.[20][21]

In September 2021, Canva raised US$200 million, with its value peaking that year at US$40 billion.[22][21] By September 2022, the valuation of the company had leveled at US$26 billion.[23]

While Canva's value declined from its 2021 peak by mid-2022, it remained one of Australia's most prominent technology companies, alongside Atlassian.[24][25]

In March 2022, Canva had over 75 million monthly active users.[26]

In 2023, the pair were named in the Australian Financial Review's AFR Rich List as among the 10 most wealthy people in Australia.[27]

On 7 December 2022, Canva launched Magic Write, which is the platform's AI-powered copywriting assistant.[28] On 22 March 2023, Canva announced its new Assistant tool, which makes recommendations on graphics and styles that match the user's existing design.[29] On 11 January 2024, Canva launched its own GPT in OpenAI's GPT Store.[30]

The company has announced it intends to compete with Google and Microsoft in the office software category with website and whiteboard products.[23]

In May 2024, the company announced the launch of Canva Enterprise, a plan designed for large organisations, alongside new tools including Work Kits, Courses and AI capabilities.[31] In 2024, they announced a co-funded solar energy project to enhance its sustainability efforts.[32]

On 10 April 2025, Canva released Visual Suite 2. The new interface combines Canva's design and productivity tools. New features include a spreadsheets application (Canva Sheets), a generative AI coding assistant (Canva Code), a chatbot, and an updated photo editor that can modify or remove background objects.[33]

In August 2025, Canva launched a stock sale to employees, valuing the company at US$42 billion.[34]

Acquisitions

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In 2018, the company acquired presentations startup Zeetings for an undisclosed amount, as part of its expansion into the presentations space.[35]

In May 2019, the company announced the acquisitions of Pixabay and Pexels, two free stock photography sites based in Germany, which enabled Canva users to access their photos for designs.[36]

In February 2021, Canva acquired Austrian startup Kaleido.ai and the Czech-based Smartmockups.[37]

In 2022, Canva acquired Flourish, a London-based data visualization startup.[38]

In March 2024, Canva acquired UK-based Serif, the developers of the Affinity suite of graphic design software, for approximately $380 million.[39][40]

In August 2024, Canva acquired the AI image generation platform and startup, Leonardo AI, for an undisclosed amount.[41]

In June 2025, it was announced that Canva had acquired Australian AI marketing startup MagicBrief for an undisclosed amount.[42]

Philanthropy

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Canva's co-founders, Perkins and Obrecht, have publicly stated their intention to donate a significant portion of their personal wealth to charity.[43]

In 2021, Canva started a partnership with GiveDirectly, a nonprofit organization operating in low income areas that makes unconditional cash transfers to families living in extreme poverty. Since then, the company has donated $50 million to support GiveDirectly's work across Malawi.[44]

In 2025, Canva announced an additional $100 million commitment to expand its GiveDirectly partnership.[45]

Controversies

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Data breach

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In May 2019, Canva experienced a data breach in which the data of roughly 139 million users was exposed.[46]

The exposed data included real names of users, usernames, email addresses, geographical information, and password hashes for some users.[47]

In January 2020, approximately 4 million user passwords were decrypted and shared online.[48] Canva responded by resetting the passwords of every user who had not changed their password since the initial breach.

See also

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  • Adobe – American multinational software company
  • Figma – Online collaborative vector graphics editor
  • RushOrderTees – American technology and apparel company
  • Shutterfly – American photography, photography products, and image sharing company

References

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  1. ^ Smith, Paul (22 January 2024). "Canva share sale booms as revenue races higher". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024.
  2. ^ Turk, Victoria (12 October 2024). "Canva Revolutionized Graphic Design. Will It Survive the Age of AI?". Wired.
  3. ^ Bonyhady, Nick (10 April 2024). "Canva agrees to settle unfair dismissal case from senior engineer". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 16 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Technical Requirements". www.canva.com.
  5. ^ "Canva". www.canva.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  6. ^ "ABN Lookup". abr.business.gov.au. 1 November 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  7. ^ Perez, Sarah (26 August 2013). "Canva Launches A Graphic Design Platform Anyone Can Use". Tech Crunch'. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
  8. ^ Lancet, Yaara; Zukerman, Erez (7 January 2014). "Canva review: Free tool brings much-needed simplicity to design process". PC World. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014.
  9. ^ Swallow, Erica (18 November 2013). "Canva Makes Great Design More Accessible". Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Susan Wu, tech entrepreneur and start-up adviser". Vogue. 11 March 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  11. ^ Campbell, Rebekah (15 September 2014). "The Problem With Going Into Business With a Friend". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014., with a loss of A$3.3 million
  12. ^ a b "New Sequoia China investment values Australian design company Canva at $1 billion – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  13. ^ Stanton, Kate; Griffith, Hywel (9 January 2018). "The 30-year-old woman who designed a $1bn business". BBC News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  14. ^ Chau, David (9 January 2018). "Canva: Online design startup joins generally overvalued 'unicorn' club". ABC News. Australia. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  15. ^ Clark, Kate (20 May 2019). "Graphic design platform Canva valued at $2.5B with new funds". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  16. ^ Cook, Jordan (16 October 2019). "Canva, now valued at $3.2 billion, launches an enterprise product". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  17. ^ Hennessy, James (6 December 2019). "Canva has announced a slew of new products, including a video editing tool and an education offering". Business Insider Australia. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020.
  18. ^ Crook, Jordan (17 June 2020). "Canva design platform partners with FedEx Office as it pushes further into the US". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  19. ^ "Office Depot Enhances Print Services Portfolio with New Graphic Design Solutions Powered by Canva". Bloomberg. 16 July 2020. Archived from the original on 21 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  20. ^ Tse, Crystal; Roof, Katie; Tan, Gillian; Lee, Yoolim (22 June 2020). "Australia's Canva Startup Almost Doubles Valuation to $6 Billion". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Canva: Australian online design platform valued at $40bn". BBC. 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 30 January 2022.
  22. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Canva Raises At $40 Billion Valuation — Its Founders Are Pledging Away Most Of Their Wealth". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  23. ^ a b Bonyhady, Nick (14 September 2022). "Canva to go up against Microsoft and Google". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Blackbird reveals Canvas' $14b plunge in value". Australian Financial Review. 26 July 2022. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  25. ^ Yun, Jessica (17 January 2023). "'Orange is the new Palo Alto': Why the next Atlassian, Canva will be from the bush". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  26. ^ Aziz, Afdhel. "How Canva Is Being A Force For Good By Empowering The Whole World To Design". Forbes. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  27. ^ "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. 24 May 2023. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  28. ^ "AI text generation is moving mainstream with Canva's Magic Write". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  29. ^ Malik, Aisha (23 March 2023). "Canva unveils a series of new features, including several AI-powered tools". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  30. ^ Hollander, Roger (13 January 2024). "The Most Popular GPTs in the OpenAI GPT Store". GPTReview.
  31. ^ Wood, Chris (23 May 2024). "Canva Introduces Canva Enterprise, Work Kits and adtech apps". MarTech.
  32. ^ "Canva | Redesigning Design with Method Recycling". Method Recycling - Recycling Bins Made Beautiful. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  33. ^ Weatherbed, Jess (10 April 2025). "Canva is now in the coding and spreadsheet business". The Verge. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
  34. ^ "Australia's Canva begins share sale at $42 billion valuation". Reuters. 20 August 2025.
  35. ^ Powell, Dominic. "SmartCompany". Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  36. ^ Jonathan, Shieber (17 May 2019). "Australia's design unicorn, Canva, picks up two free image-sharing services, and launches new photo product". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  37. ^ Lee, Yoolim (22 February 2021). "Australia's Canva Buys European Design Startups to Fuel Growth". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  38. ^ Hall, Christine (2 February 2022). "Canva acquires Flourish in mission to tell better stories with data". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  39. ^ Bonyhady, Nick (26 March 2024). "Canva's billion-dollar bet on a 37-year-old Nottingham company". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  40. ^ Miller, Ron (26 March 2024). "With Affinity acquisition, Canva should be able to compete better with Adobe's creative tools". TechCrunch.
  41. ^ Jones, Tegan (30 July 2024). "Canva snaps up Leonardo.AI in blockbuster acquisition". SmartCompany. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  42. ^ "Deal-making Canva reports spike in paying users as it nears IPO". Australian Financial Review. 17 June 2025. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
  43. ^ "Canva founders to give $16.5b fortune away". Australian Financial Review. 14 September 2021. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  44. ^ Perkins, Melanie; Obrecht, Cliff (9 October 2025). "Why we chose to invest another $100 million in cash transfers". Canva. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  45. ^ Oloo, Carlton (9 October 2025). "Canva pledges $100M for unconditional cash to boost local economies through cash in Malawi". Africa Sustainability Matters. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  46. ^ "Australian tech unicorn Canva suffers security breach". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 1 April 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  47. ^ "139 Million Users Hit in Canva Data Breach". Tom's Guide. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  48. ^ "Canva Security Incident – May 24 FAQs". Canva. 17 January 2020. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
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