Canva

Canva is a multimedia design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content.  It is available on web and mobile, and integrates millions of images, fonts, templates and illustrations. 

Users can choose from many professional designed templates, and edit the designs and upload their own photos through a drag and drop interface.  The platform is free to use, and paid subscriptions like Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise offer additional functionality.  Users can also pay for physical products to be printed and shipped. 

As of 2019, Canva last raised at a $3.2 billion valuation and has over 20 million users across 190 countries. 

History

The company was founded on 1 January 2012 in Sydney, Australia by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams.  In its first year, Canva had more than 750,000 users.  Social-media and technology expert Guy Kawasaki joined the company as chief evangelist in April 2014.  In 2015, Canva for Work was launched which gave businesses a tool for producing marketing materials. 

During the 2016-17 financial year, revenue increased from $AU 6.8m to $AU 23.5m, with losses of $3.3m. In 2017, the company reached profitability and had 294,000 paying customers.  

In January 2018, Perkins announced that the company had raised $40 million from Sequoia Capital, Blackbird Ventures, and Felicis Ventures, and it was valued at $1 billion. 

In May 2019, Canva experienced a security breach in which data of roughly 139 million users was hacked.  The exposed data included real names, usernames, addresses and geographical information, and password hashes for some users. 

During May 2019, the company raised another round of funding of $70m from General Catalyst and Bond and its existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Felicis Ventures, valuing Canva at $2.5 billion. 

It was reported that Canva, among other Australian businesses, supported employees attending the Global Climate Strikes that took place on September 20 and 27, 2019.  The strikes called for the Australian Government to take greater action on climate change and transition to renewable energy. 

In October 2019, Canva announced that it raised an additional $85 million at a valuation of $3.2 billion, and launched an enterprise product. 

Canva received praise in January 2020 for releasing a comprehensible privacy policy written in both Legal English and common language, with the intention of abiding by their brand mission of simplicity while making their practices understandable to everyday users. 

Acquisitions

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

In May 2019, the company announced acquisitions of Pixabay and Pexels, two free stock photography sites based in Germany.  These sites allow individual photographers to share their work for free, and the photos can be used by Canva users in their designs. 

References

External links
Official website

Category:graphics software
Category:Online companies of Australia
Category:Design companies established in 2012
Category:Media companies established in 2012
Category:Technology companies established in 2012
Category:500 Startups companies
Category:Companies based in Sydney