Canva is an Australian multinational software company that provides a graphic design platform that provides tools for creating social media graphics, presentations, postcards, promotional merchandise and websites.[6][7][8] Launched in Australia in 2013, the service offers design tools for individuals and companies.[9][10] Its offerings include templates for presentations, posters, and social media content, as well as functionalities for photo and video editing.
The platform uses a drag-and-drop interface intended to simplify the design process. Canva operates on a freemium model and has expanded its services over the years to include a print product platform and a video editing tool.
History
2013–2020
Canva was founded in Perth, Australia, by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams on 1 January 2013. One of the companies' early investors included Susan Wu, an American entrepreneur.[11] In its first year, Canva had more than 750,000 users.[12] In April 2014, social media and technology expert Guy Kawasaki joined the company as its chief evangelist (brand promoter).[13] In 2015, Canva for Work was launched, focusing on marketing materials.[14]
During the 2016–17 financial year, Canva's revenue increased from A$6.8 million to A$23.5 million, with a loss of A$3.3 million. In 2017, the company reached profitability and had 294,000 paying customers.[15]
In May 2019, the company raised another round of funding of A$70 million from General Catalyst and Bond and its existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Felicis Ventures, valuing Canva at A$2.5 billion.[19] In October of that year, Canva announced that it had raised an additional A$85 million at a valuation of A$3.2 billion and launched an enterprise product.[20]
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.[21]
2021–2024
In June 2020, Canva announced a partnership with FedEx Office[22] and with Office Depot the following month.[23] As of June 2020[update], Canva's valuation had risen to A$6 billion, rising to A$40 billion by September 2021.[24][25] In September 2021, Canva raised US$200 million, with its value peaking that year at US$40 billion.[26][27] By September 2022, the valuation of the company had leveled at US$26 billion.[28] While its value had fallen significantly, perhaps as much as 35% from its 2021 high to mid 2022, it was still known as a "darling" of the Australian tech sector, along with Atlassian.[18][29] In March 2022, Canva had over 75 million monthly active users.[30]
Co-founders Perkins and Obrecht have already disclosed their plan to give away much of their fortune to numerous philanthropic causes.[31] In 2023, the pair were named in the Australian Financial Review's AFR Rich List as among the 10 most wealthy people in Australia.[32]
On December 7, 2022, Canva launched Magic Write, which is the platform’s AI-powered copywriting assistant.[33] On March 22, 2023, Canva announced its new Assistant tool, which makes recommendations on graphics and styles that match the user's existing design.[34] On January 11, 2024, Canva launched its own GPT in OpenAI's GPT Store.[35]
In March 2024, Canva finalised a share sale at a flat valuation of US$26 billion (A$39.4 billion) for the company, with buyers wanting US$2.4 billion (A$3.6 billion) in shares but purchasing about US$1.6 billion (A$2.4 billion) in that tranche.[36]
The company has announced it intends to compete with Google and Microsoft in the office software category with website and whiteboard products.[28]
In May 2024, the company announced the launch of Canva Enterprise, a plan designed for large organizations, alongside new tools including Work Kits, Courses and AI capabilities.[37] In 2024, they announced a co-funded solar energy project to enhance its sustainability efforts.[38]
A new Canva look and features, dubbed "the glow up" was featured at the Canva Create 2024 Event. They have been giving out beta versions over time, and there was a secret button pattern to unlock the beta, but that was closed, now it is being rolled out by time.[39]
Data breach
In May 2019, Canva experienced a data breach in which the data of roughly 139 million users was hacked.[40] The exposed data included real names of users, usernames, email addresses, geographical information, and password hashes for some users.[41] Later in January 2020, approximately 4 million user passwords were decrypted and shared online.[42] Canva responded by resetting the passwords of every user who had not changed their password since the initial breach.
Acquisitions
In 2018, the company acquired presentations startup Zeetings for an undisclosed amount, as part of its expansion into the presentations space.[43]
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.[44]
In February 2021, Canva acquired Austrian startup Kaleido.ai and the Czech-based Smartmockups.[45]
