21/04/2025
Melanie Perkins didn't have a technical background when she cofounded Canva more than ten years ago, but she had a bold idea: make graphic design accessible to everyone, not just experts. She recognized a huge opportunity to make design tools more accessible to the general public as visual material grew crucial in the social media era.ၠ
Perkins and co-founder Cliff Obrecht had to deal with more than 100 VC rejections in the early going. But they persisted. Today, Canva is valued at $26 billion, making it the highest-valued female-founded and -led startup in the world. It serves over 170 million customers worldwide and brings about $3 billion annually. Although she and Obrecht have donated the majority of their shares to the Canva Foundation, Perkins, who is still the CEO, owns an estimated 18% of the company.ၠ
Prominent investors such as Sequoia Capital, Bessemer, T. Rowe Price, and Franklin Templeton have backed the company's growth. Financial behemoths like Goldman Sachs and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, as well as former Disney CEO Bob Iger, are prominent backers.
