Canva confirms $70m raise, valuing the design business at $2.5 billion

• Tech unicorn announces new valuation at US$2.5 billion
• Internet trends analyst Mary Meeker invests via her new VC fund, Bond, with another fund coming on for the first time
• Announces launch of a tailored enterprise solution

Design platform Canva has more than doubled in value in less than 18 months with the Sydney-based startup announcing another a new US$70 million raise that takes its valuation to US$2.5 billion. 

Two new venture capital funds, General Catalyst and Bond, tipped in alongside existing investors Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Capital. Bond is a new fund created by Mary Meeker of Internet Trends Report fame. She left Kleiner Perkins late last year to build it and this is her first investment.

“The Canva team are building their platform around three trends – content, community and commerce – that we’ve been observing in some of the world’s fastest growing companies,” Meeker said.

“We are excited about the potential to achieve Canva’s mission of improving the world’s design fluency and look forward to being part of that journey.”

The funds will be used for Canva to push further into workplace. The company is releasing a tailored product that will give corporations additional brand control and collaboration. The existing premium product, Canva Pro, has more than 500,000 paying subscribers, including Yelp, Finder.com and Hubspot.

The goal of Canva CEO and co-founder Melanie Perkins (pictured) is to make Canva the default tool in every workplace and believes Canva Enterprise will help her achieve that.

“We’ve seen incredible uptake from millions of people all around the world, with organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500s, using Canva every day,” she said. 

“We’ve heard the challenges faced by hundreds of brand managers, designers and teams at large companies. Our enterprise product will help to resolve these pain points and ensure that all content produced is perfectly aligned.”

General Catalyst managing director Kyle Doherty said the investment in Canva was “a no-brainer”.

“In only five years it has not only demonstrated the need for a simpler way to design, but it is also one of the rarer cases of a tech startup that is already profitable while growing incredibly quickly,” he said. 

In Janaury 2018, Canva raised US$40 million in Series A funding to value the business at US$1 billion (AU$1.45bn), making it Australia’s second tech unicorn after Atlassian.

Last week the business announced it had acquired stock photography sites Pexels and Pixabay for undisclosed sums.

Perkins also launched Photos Unlimited, which she called a “Netflix-style” subscription site for “more affordable” paid stock photography.