Canva Pty Ltd
Company History
Canva History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2013 in Sydney, Australia
When was Canva founded?
Canva was founded in 2013 in Sydney, Australia by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, making it 13 years old.
- Founded
- 2013
- Founding place
- Sydney, Australia
- Founders
- Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams
- Headquarters today
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Milestones documented
- 11 (2007–2026)
- Current CEO
- Melanie Perkins
- Acquisitions
- 4
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Fusion Books Founded in Perth |
| 2012 | Cameron Adams Joins; Canva Incorporated |
| 2013 | Public Launch of Canva in Sydney |
| 2015 | Launch of Canva for Work (Canva Pro) |
| 2018 | Achieved Unicorn Status at $1.0B Valuation |
| 2019 | Acquisition of Pexels & Pixabay |
| 2020 | $6 Billion Valuation |
| 2021 | $40.0B Valuation Peak & Philanthropic Equity Pledge |
| 2023 | Launch of Magic Studio Generative AI Suite |
| 2024 | Landmark Acquisitions of Serif (Affinity) & Leonardo.ai |
| 2026 | Growth Forecast Cut and Valuation Markdowns |
- Where was Canva founded?
- Canva was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2013.
- Who founded Canva?
- Canva was founded by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams.
- When did Canva come out?
- Canva was founded in 2013. The first launch in its timeline is dated 2013: Public Launch of Canva in Sydney.
- How old is Canva?
- Canva is 13 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
In 2007, Melanie Perkins was a 19-year-old student in Australia, earning extra money by tutoring other students on how to use Adobe InDesign. She watched people struggle for weeks just to learn how to put text over an image. She realized the future of design had to be completely online, collaborative, and simple. She and her co-founder started by building a niche product for designing high school yearbooks. It was a large success, providing the cash flow and the technical foundation to eventually launch Canva and take on the global design industry.
Founders
Melanie Perkins
Melanie Perkins (born 1987) co-founded Canva after realizing how difficult complex design software like Adobe InDesign was for students to learn. She pitched over 100 investors before securing initial funding. As CEO, she oversaw the product's rapid global adoption, focusing entirely on simplifying the user experience and introducing freemium web-based design templates. Perkins was born in 1987. Before Canva she co-founded Fusion Books, a web-based yearbook publisher.
Cliff Obrecht
Cliff Obrecht is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Canva. A master of operational execution, sales strategy, and corporate partnerships, Obrecht directed Canva's business development from its early days in Perth. At Canva, Obrecht oversees global operations, people, real estate, international expansions, and strategic corporate M&A. He led the landmark acquisitions of Pexels, Pixabay, Smartmockups, Serif (Affinity), and Leonardo.ai, while orchestrating Canva's global philanthropic commitments alongside Melanie Perkins. Obrecht's operational discipline was crucial in guiding Canva to operating profitability within four years of public launch, a rare feat in venture-backed software. In 2024, Obrecht orchestrated the landmark acquisition of Serif and its Affinity suite, mounting Canva's direct competitive challenge to Adobe Creative Cloud, while co-directing Canva's philanthropic commitments to global poverty relief. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Cameron Adams
Cameron Adams (born 1980) joined Perkins and Obrecht in 2012 as the technical co-founder. He led the original engineering and product design of the Canva platform, ensuring it could function natively in web browsers without plugin dependencies. He serves as Chief Product Officer, managing Canva's global engineering hubs. Cameron Adams was born in 1980.
Key Milestones
Fusion Books Founded in Perth
Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht founded Fusion Books in Perth, building an online tool for school yearbooks.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCameron Adams Joins; Canva Incorporated
Google UI designer Cameron Adams joined as co-founder, and Canva raised seed capital from Bill Tai and Lars Rasmussen.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgPublic Launch of Canva in Sydney
Canva launched publicly, reaching 750,000 users in its first year through its influential drag-and-drop editor.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLaunch of Canva for Work (Canva Pro)
Introduced subscription tiers with Brand Kits and team collaboration, igniting commercial enterprise revenue.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAchieved Unicorn Status at $1.0B Valuation
Raised $40 million in January 2018 from investors including Sequoia Capital China, Blackbird Ventures and Felicis, reaching a $1 billion valuation.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAcquisition of Pexels & Pixabay
Acquired leading free stock photography platforms Pexels and Pixabay, embedding millions of free assets.
Source: en.wikipedia.org$6 Billion Valuation
Canva raised $60 million in June 2020 at a $6 billion valuation.
Source: en.wikipedia.org$40.0B Valuation Peak & Philanthropic Equity Pledge
Valued at $40.0B in a $200M round; founders pledged 30% equity stake to eliminate extreme global poverty.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLaunch of Magic Studio Generative AI Suite
Debuted Magic Studio, processing billions of AI design operations and expanding into Canva Enterprise.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLandmark Acquisitions of Serif (Affinity) & Leonardo.ai
Acquired Serif (Affinity suite) and Leonardo.ai, mounting a direct challenge to Adobe Creative Cloud.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgGrowth Forecast Cut and Valuation Markdowns
Canva cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast to about 20% from 30% after AI serving costs slowed a product rollout, and backers including Blackbird marked its valuation down, the AFR reported.
Source: startupdaily.netMajor Acquisitions
Serif (Affinity)
2024Acquired the developer of Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher to challenge Adobe Creative Cloud directly in professional creative software.
Cavalry and MangoAI
2026Bought UK 2D motion design software maker Cavalry and US video-ad optimisation startup MangoAI in February 2026; terms were not disclosed.
Flourish
2022Acquired the London-based leading data visualization and interactive charting platform.
Kaleido AI (remove.bg)
2021Acquired the Austrian AI computer vision startup behind remove.bg and unscreen.com.
Keep researching Canva
Canva Company History FAQ
What are the major historical eras in the evolution of Canva?
Canva's history spans its 2007 Fusion Books roots, 2012 Sydney founding, 2013 public beta launch, reaching unicorn status (2018), launching Canva for Enterprise (2019), the $40B peak valuation and Visual Worksuite launch (2021 to 2022), the Magic Studio AI rollout (2023), and the $380M Affinity acquisition (2024).
When did Canva officially become a tech unicorn in January 2018?
In January 2018, following a $40 million funding round led by Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures, Canva reached a $1.0 billion post-money valuation, becoming Australia's premier private tech unicorn.
How did Canva respond to the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020?
During 2020 lockdowns, Canva experienced a large global surge in adoption as millions of teachers, students, and remote corporate teams relied on Canva Presentations, collaborative Whiteboards, and digital video templates.
When did Canva launch the Canva Visual Worksuite in September 2022?
On September 7, 2022, at Canva Create in Sydney, the company unveiled the Canva Visual Worksuite, introducing Canva Docs, Canva Websites, Canva Whiteboards, and Canva Data Visualization, expanding into an all-in-one competitor to traditional office software suites.
When did Canva launch Magic Studio generative AI in October 2023?
On October 4, 2023, Canva celebrated its 10th anniversary by launching Magic Studio, integrating over a dozen generative AI design tools across image generation, video creation, text translation, and automated layout generation.
Is Affinity free now that Canva owns it?
Yes. After buying Serif in March 2024, Canva relaunched Affinity in October 2025 as a single app combining Designer, Photo and Publisher and made it free for everyone. In September 2026 Canva grouped Affinity with Cavalry, Flourish and Leonardo as the Canva ProSuite, with Affinity and Cavalry staying free.
When did Canva cross the milestone of 190 million monthly active users?
Forbes put Canva at 185 million active users in May 2024, and the company passed 200 million monthly users later that year. It reported more than 260 million monthly users in 2025.
What is Canva's corporate vision for the next decade of digital design?
Canva's long-term vision is to be the visual operating system for every workplace and individual on Earth, smoothly merging AI design automation with professional illustration tools, while dedicating corporate wealth to solving the world's greatest humanitarian challenges under Step 2 of its Two-Step Plan.
How did Canva start?
Canva was founded in 2013, but the idea started years earlier when Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht built "Fusion Books," a highly successful niche software company in Australia that simply allowed schools to easily design their own yearbooks.
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