From the very beginning, we had this Venn diagram: on one side there is creativity, on the other side there is productivity. As you might guess, Canva is right at the center of it. We really believe that people on the productivity side actually want to be more inventive, and people on the inventive side actually want to be more productive. So we decided this was the best time – it was a huge gap in the market that we noticed early on and that’s where we continue to invest very heavily.
What about you? How does Canva exploit Canva?
Extremely broad, for literally everything. Our engineers do their engineering documents in Canva, we do it with our own hands, I do all the mockups of my products in Canva. I’ve used it for decision and vision decks, onboarding, hiring, and recruiting – let’s just say we exploit Canva a lot for this.
Your highest valuation in 2021 was $40 billion. A year later it was reduced to $26 billion. What happened?
I think it was just a macro shift in the market. During this time, Canva continued to grow rapidly, both in revenue and lively user numbers. We have also been making profits for seven years, despite the market [switched to caring] more about profitability, fortunately we were already in this trend. Over time, markets will value different things, and markets will froth, and then they will stop frothing. We simply always want to build a robust, sustainable company with good foundations that serves our community. Therefore, what is happening on the market is not particularly disturbing.
You’ve pledged to donate 30 percent of Canva – most of your equity and Obrecht’s – to doing good in the world. What does this mean for you?
It seems completely absurd that we have the prosperity we have around the world and there are people who still do not have their basic human needs met. The first step we took was to partner with GiveDirectly, where we donate money directly to people living in extreme poverty. [Canva has so far donated a total of $30 million to people living in poverty in Malawi.] I love the power that gives them the ability to spend money on their community, on their family, on basic human needs – sending their children to school and putting a roof over their heads. We have a very long road ahead of us, but we are really excited to have started this process.
Your goal is to reach 1 billion users. What’s the plan to get there?
When we set this goal a few years ago, it seemed completely absurd, but as the years go by, it becomes less and less ridiculous. To reach one billion, we need about one in five internet users in each country. It is currently one in six internet users in the Philippines and one in eight internet users in Australia. In Spain, it’s one in 11. In the US, it’s one in 12. So at 200 million, we’re already one-fifth of the way to a billion, and if we can continue to grow as rapid as we have, we hope to get there.
Any plans for an IPO?
This is definitely something on the horizon.
This article first appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of WIRED UK.