Canva: Surge of Online Graphic Design Platform
Canva, the Sydney, Australia-based online graphic design platform, has experienced exceptional growth with a user-friendly and extremely convenient platform to create a variety of digital designs and marketing documents. Via Forbes:
“Canva raised a new $15 million round of funding, the company announced on Wednesday. The latest funding valued the startup at $345 million, more than double the company’s $165 million valuation a year ago. To date, Canva has raised about $42 million, the company said. Among Canva’s investors are actor Owen Wilson, Google Maps cofounder Lars Rasmussen and 500Startups founding partner Dave McClure.
Canva cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the startup hasn’t used a cent of the $15 million round it raised in 2015 because of strong revenue growth. Now, the company plans to use its two latest rounds to spend more heavily on expansion over the next 12 to 18 months with the goal of becoming a mainstream workplace tool employees use to create any document, presentation or marketing material needed for work, competing with more broadly known tools like Microsoft Office.
“Every profession is becoming increasingly visual, and we think Canva is applicable to most people,” Perkins said in a phone interview. “A lot of concepts were not natively web, which we’ve been able to invent from the ground up. We want to power the modern workforce.”
Over the past year, Canva doubled its user base to 10 million registered accounts, launched in 10 languages and released its first mobile app for iOS, garnering half a million downloads in its first month. The company is working on its Android app and plans to launch in 20 languages by the end of this year.
Originally available only for premium members, a new free feature allows a small work group to set up their own team allowing members to collaborate and comment on designs.
