https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/09/14/canva-raises-at-40-billion-valuation-and-founders-pledge-away-their-wealth/ Explore * Billionaires + All Billionaires + World's Billionaires + Forbes 400 + America's Richest Self-Made Women + China's Richest + India's Richest + Indonesia's Richest + Korea's Richest + Thailand's Richest + Japan's Richest + Australia's Richest + Taiwan's Richest + Singapore's Richest + Philippines' Richest + Hong Kong's Richest + Malaysia's Richest + Money & Politics + 2020 Money * Innovation + All Innovation + 5G + AI + Big Data + Cloud + Cloud 100 + Cognizant BrandVoice | Paid Program + Consumer Tech + Cybersecurity + Enterprise Tech + Future Of Work + Games + Genesys BrandVoice | Paid Program + Healthcare + Innovation Rules + SAP BrandVoice | Paid Program + Science + ServiceNow BrandVoice | Paid Program + Social Media + Splunk BrandVoice | Paid Program + Sustainability + T-Mobile for Business BrandVoice | Paid Program + Venture Capital * Leadership + All Leadership + Amazon Web Services BrandVoice | Paid Program + Careers + CEO Network + CFO Network + CIO Network + CMO Network + CxO + Deloitte BrandVoice | Paid Program + Diversity, Equity & Inclusion + Education + Forbes EQ | Paid Program + Forbes The Culture + ForbesWomen + Google Cloud BrandVoice | Paid Program + Leadership Strategy + Splunk BrandVoice | Paid Program + Under 30 + Webex by Cisco BrandVoice | Paid Program + Working Remote + Over 50 * Money + All Money + Banking & Insurance + Crypto & Blockchain + ETFs & Mutual Funds + Fintech + Hedge Funds & Private Equity + Investing + Markets + Personal Finance + Premium Investing Newsletters + Retirement + Taxes + Top Advisor | SHOOK + Wealth Management + Election 2020 * Business + All Business + Aerospace & Defense + Energy + Food & Drink + Hollywood & Entertainment + Honeywell BrandVoice | Paid Program + Manufacturing + Media + Policy + Retail + SportsMoney + Tableau BrandVoice | Paid Program + Transportation * Small Business + All Small Business + Entrepreneurs + Franchises + Office Depot OfficeMax BrandVoice | Paid Program + Small Business Strategy + Square BrandVoice | Paid Program * Lifestyle + All Lifestyle + Arts + Boats & Planes + Cars & Bikes + Dining + ForbesLife + Forbes Travel Guide + Spirits + Style & Beauty + Travel + Vices + Watches * Real Estate + All Real Estate + Commercial Real Estate + Forbes Global Properties + Residential Real Estate * Store + All Store * Vetted + All Vetted + Gear + Health & Wellness + Home & Kitchen + Style + Tech & Electronics * Coupons + All Coupons + Purple + Squarespace + Verizon + Lululemon + AT&T + Lowe's + Brooks Brothers + Tory Burch + Dr Martens + Dell + Chewy * Advisor + All Advisor + The Best Credit Cards Of 2021 + Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards + Best Cash Back Credit Cards + Best 0% APR Credit Cards + Best Travel Credit Cards + Best Business Credit Cards + Best Life Insurance Companies + Best Term Life Insurance + Best Travel Insurance Companies + Pandemic Travel Insurance + Best Car Insurance Companies + Best Pet Insurance + Best Mortgage Lenders + Best Personal Loans + Best Student Loans + Best Student Loan Refinance + Best Home Moving Companies + Forbes Advisor UK + Energy Comparison * Wheels + All Wheels + Best Sedans + Best Luxury SUVs + Best SUVs + Best Pickups + Best Performance Cars + Best Family Cars + Best SUVs & Crossovers + Best Electric Cars + Best Sports Cars * Lists + All Lists * Video + All Video * Newsletters + Crypto Confidential + Editorial Newsletters + Investing Digest + Premium Investing Newsletters * Forbes Magazine + All Forbes Magazine + Forbes Asia + Free Issue of Forbes * Latest + Coronavirus Coverage + Daily Cover Stories + Dark Capital + Editors' Picks + Election 2020 + Visual Web Stories * Featured + 30 Under 30 2021 + Accenture - India BrandVoice | Paid Program + All Hands On Data - A Tableau Series | Paid Program + America's Top Wealth Advisors | Paid Program + BNY Mellon Wealth Management BrandVoice | Paid Program + DNA Of Success + EY BrandVoice | Paid Program + EY Insights | Paid Program + Forbes Next 1000 2021 + Grads of Life BrandVoice | Paid Program + Manhattan Associates BrandVoice | Paid Program + Marcus by Goldman Sachs | Paid Program + Michigan Economic Development Corporation Insights | Paid Program + realme BrandVoice | Paid Program + ServiceNow BrandVoice | Paid Program + Square BrandVoice | Paid Program + Tableau BrandVoice | Paid Program + TD Bank BrandVoice | Paid Program + Ten-X BrandVoice | Paid Program + World's Billionaires List | Paid Program * Advertise with Forbes * Report a Security Issue * Site Feedback * Contact Us * Careers at Forbes * Tips * Corrections * Privacy * Do Not Sell My Info * Terms * AdChoices * Reprints & Permissions (c) 2021 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved Subscribe Sign In BETA This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here Edit Story Editors' Pick|Sep 14, 2021,03:02pm EDT| Canva Raises At $40 Billion Valuation -- Its Founders Are Pledging Away Most Of Their Wealth Alex Konrad Alex Konrad Forbes Staff Venture Capital Covering venture capital, software and startups * Share to Facebook * Share to Twitter * Share to Linkedin Canva founders Cameron Adams (left), Cliff Obrecht (center) and CEO Melanie Perkins (right) now lead one of the world's most valuable startups from Australia. Canva Canva is now one of the world's most valuable startups after raising $200 million in new funding at a $40 billion valuation. The round, led by T. Rowe Price with Franklin Templeton, Sequoia, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer, Blackbird, Felicis and AirTree all participating, more than doubles the Australian design software company's valuation in five months. Canva's already on a level few startups have reached -- not just for a valuation second only to Stripe on the Forbes Cloud 100 list of top private cloud companies. Long profitable and cash-flow positive, Canva continues to more than double in sales, the company says, on pace to reach a $1 billion annualized revenue run-rate by December 2021, the "vast majority" of that recurring subscription revenue. "Moving in the right direction," cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins says matter-of-factly. Profitable, doubling growth and with hundreds of millions of revenue -- why bother raising at all? One reason, says Perkins, is to keep doubling headcount, which reached 2,000 this year (Perkins says Canva received 180,000 job applications over the past 12 months). Another could be acquisitions, sources close to Canva add. Then there's Perkins' own lifelong mission for Canva, one for which she thinks it's worth it to play it safe. "It's a huge vote of confidence in what we're doing and where we're going," Perkins tells Forbes. "I always like to have enough money in the bank that if the lights turned off tomorrow and everything disappeared, we've got enough capital to keep us together for a long time." Melanie Perkins on the cover of Forbes in 2019. DEAN MACKENZIE/IDC FOR FORBES Alex Konrad With unusual origins in Perth, Australia, and then Sydney, where the company has long been based, Canva defied early skepticism to emerge as one of the world's most popular and fastest-growing software tools, putting Perkins, a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum, on the cover of the magazine in December 2019. Started in 2012 by Perkins, now-husband Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, Canva launched the following year as a tool to help anyone design, from better-looking resumes to menus, business cards and other graphic assets. Today, Canva's product has evolved to support video, presentations and most recently, live collaboration. With new websites tools, Perkins says she hopes to help do away with PDF resumes or event invites in favor of responsive sites complete with custom web domains (a product that will pitch Canva, already competitive with Adobe and Vistaprint, up against the likes of Squarespace and Wix). Canva's library now consists of more than 800,000 templates and 100 million photos, illustrations and fonts. More than 7 billion designs have been created in Canva to date, the company says, with 120 new designs each second. Originally known as a tool for amateur designers or small businesses, Canva's freemium software is used by more than 60 million monthly users. But more than 500,000 paying teams now use Canva, too, including companies like American Airlines, CBRE, Intel, Kimberly-Clark and Zoom, for everything from social media assets to sales and human resources presentations, or, in the case of Live Nation, assets for upcoming rock concerts. The new funding dramatically increases the value of Canva's founders' stakes in the business, previously valued at $15 billion valuation in April. Forbes estimates that Perkins and Obrecht each own about 18% of Canva, and Adams 9%. At a $40 billion valuation, that means Perkins and Obrecht each hold stakes valued at $6.5 billion, while Adams' stake is valued at $3.2 billion. (Forbes deducts 10% for private company holdings.) But already on the record that they didn't plan to "hoard" such wealth, Perkins and Obrecht are now pledging to give away 30% of Canva -- the "vast majority" of their stakes -- to the Canva Foundation to be used for charitable causes. "If the whole thing was about building wealth that would be the most uninspiring thing I could possible imagine," Perkins tells Forbes. "It has felt strange when people refer to us as 'billionaires' as it has never felt like our money, we've always felt that we're purely custodians of it," she added in a blog post. Canva first plans to pilot its charitable giving through a $10 million donation to non-profit GiveDirectly to distribute to vulnerable families in Southern Africa; it plans to ramp up its giving after that. It's all part of what Perkins has long described as a "two step plan" for maximum impact: "become one of the most valuable companies in the world, and do the best we can do." On the first count, Canva's well on its way, with no shortage of investors looking to pony up money even at a valuation more typical of a public company (Perkins says she has no current interest in an IPO). On the second, Canva joined the Pledge 1% movement in the past to donate time, money, equity and resources to charity; the startup works with 60,000 schools today and 130,000 non-profits. Canva has also committed to plant one tree for each print order it services, a tally that's reached 2 million to date. "As we continue to make progress on step one, step two becomes more important than ever," says Perkins. "We really feel a huge responsibility... it shouldn't matter where you are in the world, or socioeconomic status, or your skills and experience, everyone should have the ability to design." MORE FROM FORBESCanva Uncovered: How A Young Australian Kitesurfer Built A $3.2 Billion (Profitable!) Startup PhenomBy Alex Konrad Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Send me a secure tip. Alex Konrad Alex Konrad I'm a senior editor at Forbes covering venture capital, cloud and enterprise software out of New York. I edit the Midas List, Midas List Europe, Cloud 100 list and 30 ... Read More I'm a senior editor at Forbes covering venture capital, cloud and enterprise software out of New York. I edit the Midas List, Midas List Europe, Cloud 100 list and 30 Under 30 for VC. I'm a Fortune Magazine and WNYC alum. My tech focus would've perplexed my college self, as I studied medieval history and archaeology at Harvard University. Follow me on Twitter at @alexrkonrad and email me at akonrad@forbes.com. Securely share tips at https://www.forbes.com/ tips/ Read Less * Print * Reprints & Permissions [ ]