Canva employees share in $2.43 billion windfall

Last month Canva confirmed that $2.43 billion worth of shares had changed hands in a secondary market sale, at a valuation of US$26 billion.

You’ve probably used the design software platform before, or at least come across designs produced in Canva. In fact, the Deal Perspectives banner above was produced in Canva.

But here’s what you probably don’t know: Canva was born out of desire to make the design of school yearbooks easier for cofounders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht. However when they looked to raise their first round of capital, they were met with over 100 rejections due to investor fears that they couldn’t compete with design giants like Adobe.

11 years on from its foundation, Canva is now one of Australia’s largest tech companies. How did this happen?

Here’s the story:

The Very Beginning

Canva’s story begins in 2007 when Perkins and Obrecht founded a business called "Fusion Books", which allowed students to design and print their school yearbooks. It was there that they came up with the idea to create an online tool to simplify the design process for a broader audience.

As Fusion Books scaled, reaching 400 schools in 2011, Perkins and Obrecht looked to pour fuel on the fire and turned to venture funding. Their determination shone through as they faced rejection after rejection, leaving no stone unturned. They even took up kitesurfing just to get time with potential investors.

Their efforts paid off. In 2012 they secured the first tranche of their $3 million seed funding round and, in 2013, they teamed up with Cameron Adams to formally launch Canva.

The strategy to stand out from a competitive landscape was two-fold: