Australia’s Canva Startup Almost Doubles Valuation to $6 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Graphic design software business Canva Inc. has raised private capital valuing the company at $6 billion.

The fresh round of $60 million in funding nearly doubles last year’s $3.2 billion valuation, and makes the Sydney-based startup the most valuable private technology business in Australia. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures and Sequoia China, with participation from existing backers including General Catalyst Partners, Felicis Ventures and Bond, Chief Operating Officer Cliff Obrecht said in an interview.

Canva was co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Melanie Perkins, Obrecht and Cameron Adams in 2012 and launched the following year. Its website and apps help people and companies create banners, logos, social media graphics and presentations.

Canva operates what’s known as a freemium model, with some options available for free and others available for a fee. It also has a growing enterprise business, working with companies like Hubspot Inc., Warner Music Group Corp., Skyscanner Ltd. and American Airlines Group Inc. It now has more than 1.5 million paying subscribers, Obrecht said.

Canva plans to use the new capital to expand features that allow users to collaborate on work in real time. It previously raised over $250 million in funding, according to PitchBook Data.

“Now you can have hundreds of people working at the same time,” Obrecht said. One of key features Canva rolled out during the Covid-19 pandemic is a brainstorming feature. “It kind of replaces everyone standing around a whiteboard and putting sticky notes to come up with an idea,” he said. “We’ve done a digital version of that. The simultaneous collaboration feature is taking off.”

Canva, which has more than 30 million monthly active users, acquired free content sites Pexels and Pixabay last year, adding more than 1 million stock photos, vectors and illustrations on to its platform, its website shows.

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