Design platform Canva has revalued itself at $65 billion, up 14.5% on just six weeks ago, as employees look to sell their stakes in a secondary share sale.
The confirmation from cofounder Cliff Obrecht came after news leaked earlier this week that VC investors Blackbird and Square Peg had increased the valuations to $US42 billion (A$65bn).
It sets a new record for the privately owned business, which saw its valuation jump by nearly a quarter last year to A$48.7 billion following secondary market share sales. The company’s previous valuation peak was $54.5 billion before three key investors, Blackbird, Square Peg and AirTree, agree to lop 36% off that valuation in 2022.
The $65bn price tag means the company, which made cofounders Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams billionaires – Perkins and Obrecht are among the 10 richest Australians – is now worth more than mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue and Telstra and close to the current $67 billion marker cap of Nasdaq-listed Atlassian.
The uplift follows the Nasdaq listing of rival Figma earlier this month, at a US$33 listing price with its shares popping to US$115.50. It now has a market cap of around US$38bn.
Canva is contemplating a public listing in 2026.
The employee tender offer follows strong demand for a slice of the 12-year-old Sydney tech company from new and existing investors, and is already significantly oversubscribed.
It part it came about to provide liquidity for ex and existing employees after the ATO decided that redomiciling Canva as a US business in early 2025 was a vesting event, subject to tax. Not everyone with that problem was allowed to sell, and the company is offering them low-interest loans to cover the bill.
Eligible employees and former ones can sell up to US$3 million (A$4.6m) worth of Canva stock at US$1646.14 per share.
Cofounder and CEO Cliff Obrecht said Canva now has US$3.3 billion in annualised revenue and their AI tools have been used more than 20 billion times.
“We’re proud to be one of the most widely used platforms on the internet, with more than 240 million people designing with Canva each month,” he said.
“This round has been significantly oversubscribed, which is a huge testament to the incredible work of our team and the impact Canva is having around the world. The overwhelming demand from both new and existing investors is a huge vote of confidence in our momentum and the scale of what still lies ahead.”
Existing shareholder Fidelity Management & Research Co led the round with a JP Morgan Asset Management is among the new investors, as well as US Equity Group and Growth Equity Partners.
Sydney investment firm Quadrant Private Equity nabbed a $500 million slice of Canva in a secondary sale in May last year
In the past year the design platform has launched Canva Code, Canva Sheets, and several AI tools.
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.