Much of life is about pedigree. It’s why parents pay insane amounts of money for private schools (aka the old school tie), why VCs back founders 2nd time around (even after previous failures), royals marry other royals, and why a co-owner of champion racehorse Winx paid $10 million for her filly at auction this week.… Read more »
There are a lot of people who this week are talking to their accountant about capital gains tax for the very first time. Canva confirmed on Friday that US$1.6 billion (A$2.43bn) worth of shares in the design software platform had changed hands in a secondary market sale, at a valuation of US$26 billion. The total… Read more »
Design software platform Canva is fattening up for its public listing in 2026, acquiring UK professional graphic design and photo editing software business Affinity for an undisclosed sum. It’s believed to be the biggest outlay yet by Canva in a string of merger and acquisition deals in recent years, including fellow British data startup Flourish in… Read more »
The public listing of Canva will most likely happen in 2026 and won’t be on the ASX because Australia is a small market, according to the design software’s cofounder Cliff Obrecht. The husband of CEO and cofounder Melanie Perkins, named the 10th richest person in Australia, alongside his wife, with a combined wealth of $10.92 billion,… Read more »
Canva’s long-term chief financial officer, Damien Singh, has left the company after nearly 8 years, with the graphic design giant yet to name a replacement. His departure appeared to catch many by surprise last week when he broke the news to members of the Canva team on Monday, February 5. “As we move towards the… Read more »
Staff at Canva, along with early-stage investors such as Australia’s leading VCs, are close to hitting the jackpot for their initial belief in the global design platform, with around US$1 billion (A$1.49bn) in privately owned shares set to change in the coming weeks as a secondary market sale. US tech site The Information published news… Read more »
If you’ve ever stared at your fridge contents like a Masterchef mystery box, wondering how to turn it all into dinner, then a new recipe platform, which just scored $4.15 million in Seed funding from the likes of Blackbird Ventures, could be the answer. Called Clove, it’s been developed by two former Canva employees, the… Read more »
Australian design platform Canva is seeking to address the fundamental concerns of the creator economy in the wake of the Hollywood writers strike by offering an artificial intelligence (AI) royalty program over the next three years as part of its new product release, AI design tool Magic Studio. Cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the… Read more »
Canva’s $39 billion valuation has been given the tick of approval by the government financial watchdog, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), in a sign that investors have been getting it right when backing private tech companies. The regulator ran its ruler over Canva, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of its launch last week, as… Read more »
VC firm Blackbird Ventures has cracked open some of its golden eggs, offloading a small slice of its stake in design platform Canva at a US$25.5 billion (A$38.8bn) valuation in a secondary market sale to US investors. The deal with New York’s Coatue Management and San Francisco’s ICONIQ Capital is another step down the path… Read more »
What do Regrow Ag CEO and cofounder Anastasia Volkova and Skims founder Kim Kardashian have in common? Well, they’re both among the 20 industry leaders chosen by Time magazine for its list of the world’s 100 most influential companies. Regrow began life in 2016, as part of Sydney University’s “Inventing the Future” innovation program. Its… Read more »
Canva is setting up a US$50 million (A$74) innovation fund to back app developers to create new experiences for the design platform. The Canva Developers Innovation Fund was announced at the company’s first developer conference, Canva Extend, in San Francisco today. The 10-years software giant also released the Canva Apps SDK (Software Development Kit) for… Read more »
Kantar BrandZ Top 40 Most Valuable Australian Brands top US$125bn in brand value Banks (37%) and Retail (24%) are the dominant categories in the Top 40 Australians are rewarding brands that are meaningful and relevant Design platform Canva is now the country’s second most valuable brand, behind the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, according to the… Read more »
Privately-owned design platform Canva is among multiple Australian tech companies with funds stuck in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was seized by Californian regulators on Friday after customers tried and failed to withdraw an estimated US$40 billion in funds. After an anxious weekend wondering if they’d see their money again, US officials stepped in earlier… Read more »
Melanie Perkins is an ambition-driven creative, making transformative impacts on the world of graphic design. She is CEO and co-founder of Canva, which launched in 2014. Kochie’s Business Builders editor Cec Busby untangles the truth behind Canva’s ‘overnight success’ in this interview with Perkins. Starting from scratch Melanie Perkins’ passion for design has been present… Read more »
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